The Curse of the Rinnegan
by Dragon Country
Summary: The Rinnegan... this powerful dojutsu grants its user immense power but at a horrible price. Can Naruto overcome the curse of his new found eyes or will he fall into it's temptations? (Strong, Godlike Naruto, Parings currently unknown,)
1. A New Perspective

**The Curse of the Rinnegan **

**A New Perspective **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**(AN: This is a side project that I am working on my main focus will be my other story "The New Age of the Uzumaki." This story is more for my own pleasure to make my ideal God-like Naruto story, but don't get your hopes up with regular updates like I said my main focus will be another story. So without further interruption I present to you my first God-like Naruto story and my second story overall, "The Curse of the Rinnegan!" **

Naruto at age eleven had failed his graduation exam for the second time yesterday. He woke up this morning still depressed over his failure and was now attempting to better himself by trying to become faster by running around in an out of the way training ground that was more like a large clearing with some training posts on either side. Naruto was using the posts as a marker, once he touched a post on one side he would sprint as fast as he could to the other post at the other side of the training ground. _"I'll show them,"_ Naruto thought, _"I'll get a lot faster and stronger so by the time I take the exam the next time they'll have to pass me!" _With that thought he began running faster until his little body could not take anymore, he soon collapsed in the middle of the clearing with the a big grin on his face. Suddenly he heard a noise In the forest, or rather no noise at all, the birds that were chirping no longer sang there summer time songs and the air began to thicken with tension. Being hunted most of his life by hateful villagers has given him a sort of sixth sense when it comes to possible danger, he may not be able to sense chakra or anything fancy like that but it was more like a survival mechanism that had developed naturally over time.

"Who's there?" Asked Naruto, there was no answer, Naruto was now very much alert and was silently cursing himself for using up most of his energy while training. Naruto got up on his tired legs and scanned the tree line around clearing; he could not see anything or anyone.

Suddenly a kunai appeared flying out of the trees aimed at his back, Naruto not expecting this was hit dead on in between the shoulder blades, "Gah!" Naruto cried as he hit face first in the ground, Naruto then heard the sound of two pairs of feet dropping to the ground behind him.

"You missed his head Shiruko-san." A man's voice said, "O shove it up your ass Mizuki!" Yelled the now identified Shiruko, Naruto was wide eyed with shock, Shiruko-sensei and Mizuki-sensei, why, why did they attack him, why him why was it always him that people hated, what did he ever do?

"M…Mizuki-sensei, Shiruko-sensei…. Why… what did I ever do?" Asked Naruto with tears now in his eyes, "we don't need to explain ourselves to you demon!" yelled Mizuki, "Yeah we're just doing the village a favor by taking out the trash so to speak." Both men began to laugh at that, Naruto was in a panic, he could not run he was too tired from his training and the kunai still in his back hurt like hell, Naruto attempted to get to his feet only for Mizuki to grab a handful of his hair and hoist him up.

Now facing the two men he could see the hatred in both of their eyes and the utter joy of seeing him in pain. Naruto attempted to kick at punch at Mizuki but the man just held him at arm's length laughing while the boy struggled. Shiruko then grabbed the kunai that he had thrown earlier and began to twist it, "Ahh!" Naruto yelped in pain, while both men had the biggest shit eating grins on their faces.

After a few more seconds of torture from Shiruko then pulled out the Kunai while Mizuki threw the boy on the ground, the force of the impact and the pain already in his back made him cry out again. He wanted to yell for help, he wanted to be left alone; he wanted to just live damn it he had a right to that didn't he? But before any more sound came out of the boy Mizuki put a boot to his chest affectively knocking the wind out of him and pinning him down. Both men laughed again at his pain, as Shiruko crouched down on one knee he brought the blood stained kunai against his neck, Shiruko was still grinning as he looked up at the other grinning man. "Go ahead Shiruko-san, you need to make up for that pitiful throw from earlier," Shiruko looked down at Naruto with a mad look in his eyes; he then slid the kunai against his neck. Gurgling sounds could be heard from the small boy, as the blood ran down the boy both men jumped away and cheered.

Within the span of a second Naruto's mind was filled with many thought, _"I'm so weak, I'm dead, I'll never become Hokage, maybe I'll get to see my parents now, why me, I hate them, I wanted to live, someone help me, Shinra Tensei!" _

And soon his vision become black, he heard the faint sound of a mighty explosion somewhere close by and the last thing he felt was a strange sense of satisfaction that he could not for the life of him figure out why.

* * *

His eyes were heavy, his head was heavy, and his arms were heavy, hell everything felt heavy. Naruto groaned he felt horrible he didn't remember anything. _"Where am I?" _Naruto thought, he just barely opened his eyes to see the white tiled roof that he had come to be familiar with. _"Great I'm in the hospital… wait how did I get here?" _In a brief moment he began to panic he sat strait up looking wildly around the room, suddenly the door opened to reveal a man that brought immediate relief to the panicked boy.

"Naruto I was so worried, how you feeling?" Naruto smiled and attempted to talk but his voice came out in a rasp, his eyes went wide and put a hand to his neck. He felt a fresh scar that ran the length of the front his neck **(AN: calm down I know the Kyuubi heals scars Just let me explain it later on down the road.). **As he touched his scar he began to remember what happened, the images of Mizuki and Shiruko and their sadistic grins flashed in his mind, the feeling of the kunai in his back, the foot on his chest, and the feeling of his life ebbing away slowly until something happened, something that he could not quite remember.

Sarutobi was quickly at the boys side and wrapped Naruto in a hug, "I am sorry Naruto I forgot the doctors had told me that you should refrain from speaking for a few days, you suffered a lot of damage and your still healing." Naruto nodded sadly, "Now don't worry Naruto I will come back tomorrow to check on you, I have my most trusted ANBU guarding you so no one will try to hurt you." Naruto began to cry again and hugged his surrogate grandfather even tighter, he cried and cried until his exhaustion took him again and he fell asleep in the Hokage's arm.

* * *

The Hokage was sitting at his desk having just returned from visiting Naruto after he had first woken up. An ANBU in a dog mask had just arrived in his office stepping trough the opened window behind him. "Hello Dog," Sarutobi greeted the ANBU, "How is he?" Asked the ANBU, the Hokage sighed sadly putting his pipe down as he turned towards the ANBU, "he is strong but understandably shaken, and he cannot talk for a few days due to his wound." Said the Hokage, Dog tilted his head in confusion, "he cannot talk? What kind of wound are we talking about and I thought that _it_ would have healed him by now?" Said the ANBU, again the Hokage sighed, now more than ever wishing that he had not sent out his most loyal and trusted of ANBU out on a mission when he did, "when Mizuki and Shiruko attacked him they… they cut his jugular it's a miracle that the boy is still alive, and I have no idea why the wound has not healed yet." Stated the Hokage, the ANBU gave a sigh of his own, "when I get my hands on those two Ill-"Dog began to say, "there will be no need, both men died apparently during the incident." Said the Hokage surprising the ANBU "was someone else in the area?" dog asked, "we don't know but what the ANBU on site reported seeing Naruto in a large crater the size of the training ground that he was found in and the bodies of both assailants crushed with all of their bones destroyed." Hiruzen answered, "was it… you know… that thing that saved him?" Dog asked apprehensively, the Hokage shook his head, "It was reported that _it's _chakra was not detected in fact it seems that no chakra at all was used in the encounter." The ANBU was now beside himself in his confusion, "how is that possible if no detectable amount of chakra was used than how was it that a large crater was even formed and I doubt that there was use of explosives." The Hokage nodded in agreement, he too was confused by the situation. "In all honesty I am just glad that Naruto is still alive and the two traitors are dead." The Hokage said, "We will get answers from him in a few days I guess," Dog said

* * *

Naruto was now standing in the Hokage's office, it had been tree days sense he had first woken up and by all right those where the three worst days he ever had in his life so far. He was constantly seeing images of his attackers in his head, not being able to talk to anyone for the last three days about his nightmares had really taken a toll on young Naruto.

He waited patiently for the Hokage to enter the room; he had come early while he was in a council meeting so the secretary let him wait in his office, mostly because the sight of the demon boy disgusted her.

Soon the door opened and the Hokage walked into the room. "Ah Naruto please sit down, I am sure you would like to talk about what happened to you, I know it may be hard but trust me once you talk about it you will begin to feel better." Naruto just gave a weak smile and sat down in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk, the Hokage motioned for Naruto to begin speaking. Naruto cleared his throat several times and picked up and drank the glass of water that was left for him. "I…" Naruto began, "I was training, and I wanted to get stronger so that I could pass the graduation exam next year." The Hokage smiled warmly at that, obviously proud that Naruto had not given up after his second failure. "I got tired and was taking a break when it felt that something was wrong, I don't know how I did but the birds stopped singing and the whole forest felt wrong," The Hokage nodded in understanding being an experienced ninja himself he knew that feeling all too well. "I then felt a sharp pain in my back and fell face first on the ground, that's when they jumped from the trees and started laughing at me." Naruto said beginning to tear up, "T…they t…took t…the k…kunai… threw at me and they started to t…twist it in m…my b…ack" Naruto said in between sobs. Hiruzen walked around his desk and put a comforting hand on his shoulder after a few moments Naruto collected his self and continued. "They eventually had me pinned down on the ground and that when they…" Naruto trailed off while gently rubbing his throat. Sarutobi kneeled down to look Naruto in his ocean blue eyes still not taking his comforting hand off of the boys shoulder. "Naruto do you remember anything else after that, was there someone else who saved you or did you feel some sort of strange power or presence in the area?" Sarutobi asked, Naruto shook his head, "No… all I remember is thinking that I was going to die and then…" Naruto trailed off his eyes having a far off look, until something clicked in his mind, "I… I thought about something just before I blacked out." Naruto said, Hiruzen raised his brow in confusion at this, "what did you think about Naruto?" he asked, "I…I don't really know, it was more like a feeling, I felt like I was pushing something but not really with my hands if that makes sense, like I just wanted to push all my problems and push them someplace else." Naruto admitted, The Hokage looked almost as confused as Naruto was, _"Could he have subconsciously preformed a jutsu to save his life?" _The Hokage thought. "W…what happened to Mizuki and Shiruko?" Naruto tentatively asked, Hiruzen looked at Naruto, "you no longer need to worry about those two, they can no longer hurt you or anyone else." Hiruzen did not want to have to burden the boy any further with telling him that he had apparently killed two men.

* * *

That night Naruto was trying to sleep in his apartment still unable to do so because he felt like he was missing something, like he forgot something but could not place it. He then got up to go to the bath room to see if maybe splashing some water in his face in the sink could help him in some way.

As he was looking at himself in his mirror he saw himself, he didn't look different so why did he feel different, it was like he had some itch in his eyes that would not go away but no matter how much he tried it did not go away. As he was watching the water flow from his face, he subconsciously channeled chakra into his eyes; suddenly his eyes changed from blue to whitish purple and rings could be seen like a ripple in a puddle. Naruto was taken aback and jumped in surprise, in his surprise he stopped channeling chakra and his eyes turned back to normal.

"What was that?" he ask out load, when he saw his eyes change he felt a sort of warm sensation behind his eyes, he remembered what he did to make that warm feeling happen and repeated it. Again his eyes changed and his vision became clear like he was removing sunglasses off of his face indoors but only he could see things in greater detail.

He then left the bath room but kept the warm feeling in his eyes going, he looked around the room and everything was a bit brighter, it wasn't total night vision but he could more easily navigate in the dark, he then walked to his window and was amazed at what he saw. All of the trees outside had a small faint green haze around them; he looked towards his left and could see something with a similar haze like the trees only this haze was blue, he narrowed his eyes and again he was suppressed when it appeared that he was zooming in on the figure, he could barely make out what it was from this distance in the dark but he could tell that it was defiantly an ANBU, he had been chased by them so many times that he had gotten used to the way that they moved and held themselves.

Satisfied he then went back to bed and stopped the warm feeling in his eyes. He thought that tomorrow he would experiment more with his weird eyes and see what more they can do. For some reason he felt like he should keep this a secret, people already treated him bad for no reason and he felt like if they knew about his strange eyes than they would have all the more reason to hate him and would never acknowledge him, O how wrong he was, how wrong he was.

* * *

The next day he found another out of the way training ground, far enough away so that no one would bother him. He was standing in the middle of the training ground with his eyes closed thinking back to that day and the last second of consciousness when he felt that strange feeling he remembered the pain, the fear, and the panicked rage. He then opened his rippled eyes and held onto those feelings and then he remembered his last thought Naruto held out his hand. "Shinra Tensei" he said, the earth was then ripped from the ground, a large trench was dug out and the rocks hit the trees hard affectively breaking a few. "Wow" Naruto said, he then looked at his hand and began to wonder if he could do that without using it but still get the same affect, he turned around he began to do the same process as last time but instead try using his voice alone to see if he could direct the same strange power in the same way "Shinra Tensei" he said. He was happy to see that he had the same affect with the earth seeming to be gouged out by some unseen force and crashing into the trees. He then wondered if it was possible to do this without the need for words. From what little he knew about how shinobi fought, he always found it strange that ninja would loudly announce there attack giving there opponent enough time to identify the attack and find a way to easily counter said attack. He turned again towards an untouched part of the training ground he felt for the strange powers that he had been using and thought "_Shinra Tensei," _he was now grinning ear to ear, the same unseen force that had been abusing the training ground rocked (pun intended) the trees on the receiving end of the attack. He was proud of himself. _"I have to go tell the old man about this, he would be so impressed that he would just have to make me the Hokage!" _Naruto thought and with that he stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes and ran towards the tower.

* * *

He got to the Hokage's secretary and received his usual death glare from her. "Is the Hokage in there I need to see him it's important." The secretary just crossed her arms, "ha like you have anything important to tell the Hokage, get out before I call ANBU and make you get out." The rude woman said, Naruto repressed a sigh, "please I it's very important I need to see him." Naruto pleaded, the woman just ignored him. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the woman, but fortunately for him the very man that he came to see apparently sensed his chakra and opened his door too peak out. "Ah Naruto, please come in."

Naruto ran towards his office and closed the door behind him. "Now what is it that is so important that you needed to see me?" The Hokage said while walking towards his desk. "Well what I need to tell you has to do with whatever happened that day with Mizuki and Shiruko, and I only trust you with this so…" he left the sentence hanging a clear indication that the ANBU in the room needed to leave. The Hokage nodded and motioned with his hand, suddenly five ANBU jumped out of random placed and swiftly left the room. "Is it that important?" Sarutobi asked, Naruto nodded, "okay here it goes," Naruto closed his eyes and channeled chakra into his eyes, has he opened them it was revealed that his eyes had changed and were now purple with a rippling pattern in them.

"Dear God… t…that the Rinnegan!" The Hokage gasped, Naruto looked confused. "Do you know what this is? I was training with it this morning and I could do some pretty cool stuff!" Again Sarutobi was surprised at this but his face soon became more serious. "Naruto what you posses his know as the Rinnegan, it is said to be a myth but it appears that you have it…" The Hokage went on to tell him the story of the sage of the six paths and the legendary three Doujutsu, the Bakugan, the Sharingan, and the Rinnegan. At the end of his tale Naruto was wide eyed, "I… I have the same eyes as the guy who made the moon?" is all Naruto could wonder at that moment, who could blame him the last guy who had his eyes mad the mother fucking moon.

"Naruto you said that you where training with them?" Hiruzen asked, Naruto grinned proudly stated, "yep and I am already making progress!" The Hokage just chuckled at that, "I don't doubt it, come lets go see what you can do."

* * *

Later both Kage and boy were at another out of the way training ground. The Hokage smiled at Naruto, "alright show me what you can do Naruto." Naruto smiled proudly, "alight, don't ask me how know this because I don't know myself but this jutsu or whatever it is called Shinra Tensei, I'm not entirely sure what it does but it seems to push things away from me, I first had to say its name and hold out my hand in the direction I wanted to push, then I decided to see if It could be done without using my hand because I figured that if I was in a fight I would want to give my enemy as less reaction time as possible. Than when that worked I decided to try and remove all indication that I was even attempting the move by removing the words that needed to be said and do it on thought alone, because that's what I did when I first did it against Mizuki and Shiruko." Naruto finished his explanation, to say the Hokage was impressed was an understatement, not only did Naruto improve on a technique that he knew almost nothing about he also made it to where he could have a strong tactical advantage by removing any indication that he was doing anything until it was far too late.

Naruto then faced away from the Hokage, he then activated his eyes, a second later without any indication that Naruto was the one making it happen, the ground was ripped from the earth but unlike when it stopped at the tree line the push had a lot more force in it that was really necessary. Mostly due to the fact that Naruto was exited and wanted to impress his grandfather figure, not only was the other half of the training ground now a crater but the forest for the next fifty yards was all pushed away leavening the ground looking like some giant had kicked the ground with the top of his shoe.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen many things in his time, some horrible like seeing a comrade die on the battle field, some amazing like giving away Kushina Uzumaki on her wedding day to the man she loved Minato Namikaze, some downright freighting like seeing the Kyuubi's massive form eclipse the moon in the night sky, and then there was this were all three things meet and became jaw dropping. And seeing an eleven year old boy whom was not the most talented of academy student pull off a move on that scale that was worthy a jounin did just that.

"N…Naruto, t…that…was…amazing!" said the Hokage, Naruto beamed with pride at him, "yeah I can't wait to rub this in Saskue's face once we get back in the acade-"but he was cut off by Hiruzen saying, "no Naruto, you must keep this a secret, you must realize that with your power than you would become a great target from enemies of our nation, both foreign and domestic." Naruto was about to protest but then he began to run through multiple scenarios in his head all at once, surprising himself about how clear and easy it was now to think ahead and see the logical side of things. "I agree, if others knew of my power than what would be the point of me trying to make Shinra Tensei undetectable until the last moment." The Hokage smiled, "It seems that you are becoming smarter as well Naruto," joked Sarutobi but to his surprised Naruto nodded as if it was in fact a new feature with his Rinnegan eyes. "I can see more clearly, not just physically but mentally, it's as if I wasn't using my full potential of my brain but now I am. "Hmm I guess that those written tests would be a lot easier now that your eyes have seemed to jump start your thinking processes." The Hokage mused, but Naruto shook his head, "remembered what you said about not showing people my power, well that includes my brain power. I think it is best for tactics sake to make everyone believe that nothing has changed. I will remain dead last until the last possible moment so that whatever enemy is worthy enough to unleashing the wrath of my eyes than they will be taken completely by surprise for full effectiveness." Naruto said a little quickly but once he finished he gripped his head obviously not used to being so smart all of a sudden.

"Alright, I can see the logic in that Naruto… how about now you try to pull things to you instead of pushing them away?" The Hokage offered, Naruto looked confused for a seconded, "how do I do that?" He asked, Hiruzen just shrugged, "I guess do the opposite of what you do with Shinra Tensei I guess."

Naruto then turned away from the Hokage; he then closed his eyes to focus on the nature of Shinra Tensei and what the opposite of what that must be. He looked deep within himself as if reaching for some forgotten memory; he then opened his eyes and stretched out his right hand, "Banshō Ten'in." Naruto said, and soon the opposite of what happened earlier, instead of pushing the earth away he pulled the earth that was already scattered from the last move into the crater bringing some broken trees into the hole as well.

"Very good Naruto, now remember keep this a secret and try to make the same changes you made with your first jutsu." Naruto grinned at this grandfather figure. "Don't worry I'll get this down!" Naruto said with confidence, "I believe it, now be careful I have to go back to the tower before the ANBU get worried." He said has he waved goodbye to Naruto.

* * *

Some months later Naruto was back at the academy, he decided to be early so that he could see if this new teacher called Iruka Umino was either like everyone else or one of those few in the village that decided to remain neutral to him. He had already resigned himself to not expecting anyone but the third Hokage and Ayame and Teuchi from the ramen stand to be the only people who were willing to treat him as a person. He still had no idea why people hated him but with his rapidly developing brain he began to get suspicious that it had something to do with some sort of demon but for the life of him he did not understand how him and a demon could be linked.

As he entered the class the only one that was there was the new teacher Iruka, "uh good morning Iruka-sensei" Naruto said, Iruka who was busy putting standard beginning of the school year introductory papers in front of the chairs had his back to Naruto and did not see whom had spoken. "Good morning I was just…" Iruka began but he trailed off once he saw exactly who was standing there near the door. "Huh… are you Naruto Uzumaki?" asked Iruka, Naruto was already beginning to have bad feeling, _"O no its Mizuki and Shiruko all over again!" _Naruto was feeling panicked on the inside but on the outside he kept his mask on expertly, he smiled at Iruka, "the one and only!" Stated Naruto proudly, at that point Naruto expected Iruka to laugh at him or yell at him or glare at him with hatred. But what he got surprised him Iruka actually smiled at him, not a fake smile that Naruto used practically all the damn time but a real genuine smile that was warm and kind. "A pleasure to meet you Naruto, I'm Iruka Umino, I'll be your new academy teacher sense Mizuki and Shiruko will not be joining this year."

Of course Iruka had heard that his colleges had died during the summer break but the nature of their death's was an S-ranked secret only know to the Hokage and a handful of ANBU, naturally due to the mysterious nature of their death's the village turned to its classic scapegoat Naruto. Rumors where flying around about how the "demon child" murdered two shinobi in cold blood, some said it was in there sleep was when the monster killed them, others said that he lured them into a trap involving innocent children or puppies depending on who you ask. But lucky for Naruto when the other children at the academy heard the rumors none of the gossips used his name, probably that his name was a human name and therefore would have insinuated that Naruto was in fact a living breathing human being.

Naruto smiled at Iruka, _"maybe he is different." _Naruto thought, Naruto then took the farthest seat from the door, the seat that was in the shadows, however he still had his orange jump suit and goggles from the year before so the whole hidden in the shadow vibe he tried to go for was basically null and void at that point. Naruto sighed, _"I hate having to act the idiot, and I should get some sort of fucking acting prize along with my head band at the end of the year." _Naruto thought.

Soon the class was filled with eager students ready to being the year; the class was loud as students who has not seen each other for a while where now excitedly conversing with each other. Kiba had decided to sit next to Naruto, and Shikamaru decided to sit next to Kiba seeing how this was the back of the class and therefore in a prime napping area. "Oi Naruto what gives, every year you do an awesome end of the summer prank to screw with people, last year you made a dozen ANBU chase you just to be caught in a paint trap and cover their black cloths in bright orange!" Kiba demanded, _"O shit he's right, I was so busy trying to figure out my Rinnegan powers that I forgot to keep the façade up!" _Naruto thought, but his newly advanced mind quickly came up with an excuses that was believable, Naruto rubbed he back of his head sheepishly, "Ah yeah I kind of forgot his year, I found a wad of cash somewhere and used it to pig out on ramen and I kind of slipped into a food coma." Naruto said, hoping that would be enough. Kiba looked convinced when he started laughing like an idiot, seeing Kiba laugh so hard made Shikamaru laugh and seeing Shikamaru laugh so hard made Choji laugh, seeing Choji laugh made Naruto laugh. Iruka was now ready to begin class but there were now boys laughing their asses off for some reason. "Hahahahahaha… why are we laughing!" Iruka yelled sarcastically. That shut all the boys up but in turn made the whole class giggle which then brought on a another storm of laughter but this time everyone joined in, well except for Saskue and Shino of course.

Iruka decided to use what he predicted would quickly become his most used jutsu, his big teacher head no jutsu. "Quite you brats and stop laughing!" Everyone quitted down except for one blond however, "Ah come on Iruka-sensei were goanna miss being able to laugh like this when were ninja you couldn't of let it last for few more moments?" Everyone turned to look at Naruto in surprise _"what does he mean by that?" _was the collective thoughts of most of the children. Iruka however understood very well what he meant by that, and actually decided to incorporate that into his introductory lecture.

"You're right Naruto." Iruka began, now getting surprised looks from everyone, _"did Iruka-sensei just use Naruto and right in the same sentence?" _was again the collective thought of most of the children. "The shinobi world is not fun in game, it is not going to be easy, it is not always going to be glorious, and it most certainly not be without its heartache." Some kids looked confused while the ones form the ninja clans nodded in agreement, they all had at least one family member die in the line of duty and they all were there to see the loss in their family's eyes. Some like Saskue and Naruto however understood this more than everyone in the room save for Iruka himself. "Everyone I will not lie to you, I will not sugar coat this in anyway, there is a good chance that if any of you make it to genin then chances are that most if not all of you will die in the line of duty." After he said that many gasps, mostly from the Saskue fan girls, could be heard thought the class room. "If you do not feel like you have it in you to possibly give your life for the protection of this village and this country than I suggest you walk out now and save yourself the hardship of shinobi life." However no one left the room, either out of self pride, arrogance, family obligations, or sheer determination to never give up. They all stayed, ready for whatever comes there way consciences be damned, _"I will become Hokage!" _Naruto thought, no Naruto knew.

* * *

Over the next year Naruto had played his part perfectly, he had made it to dead last of the class and acted like it too. However when alone with his grandfather figure the third Hokage they began to have deeper and more meaning full conversations with each other thanks to the Rinnegan unlocking one hundred percent of Naruto's higher thinking processors.

"So Naruto you told me you had a question for me?" asked the third Hokage, they were in his office again, Hiruzen was looking out the window standing up and smoking his pipe. While Naruto sat on one of the chairs elbows resting on both armrest and arms pointed towards each other making his hands cross in a thinking pyramid. Naruto had his eyes closed, and sighed deeply; it always disturbed Hiruzen a little seeing Naruto like this, it made him look older and much more world weary than any twelve year old should be. But Naruto loved times like these the quiet and the calm, when he was like this and when he thought deeply enough, he could feel the world spin beneath his feet. Gravity, one of the pillars of the universe and he could feel it, well of course everyone felt gravity but he felt like he was the only one truly aware of it and could actually _feel _gravity. On that line of thinking was how he discovered that his two powers that he was aware of that his Rinnegan gave him were in fact gravity based jutsus, gravity release if you will. But that was nearly a year ago and he had mastered those two moves by now.

"You are correct… I was wondering… what does it mean to be Hokage?" At that Hiruzen smiled at Naruto, _"so he has finally come around to asking the really big questions."_ The Hokage thought, Sarutobi then sat down onto his chair and looked Naruto directly into his blue eyes. "A Hokage is the guiding light of the village, one who will protect the village with all of their strength and will do anything for its protection. A Hokage is a sword and a shield, but that does not mean that a Hokage needs to result to violence to get problems resolved. A Hokage must realize that the needs of the many outweigh the need of the few. Naruto if you want to become the Hokage do not do it for yourself, do not do it for recognition or respect, do it because you are the best choice at the time and without you than this village and all of your precious people would perish."

At the end of the Hokage's speech Naruto decided that day that he would be the guiding light, that he would be the sword and the shield, he would protect everyone in the village despite their hatred of him because he truly believed that he will be the best choice to protect them one day. What little remained of the immature side of Naruto was then extinguished, now only the new Naruto one who understood many things beyond his years, this new Naruto swore that day that he would do everything in his power to protect his village, and God have mercy on those who awakened his wrath because he sure wouldn't.

* * *

"Alright class listen up!" Yelled Iruka, everyone in class was silent, they were all exited because today was the day of their graduation exam, they all had just finished up there written exam, which Naruto purposefully barely passed for the sake of the realm. And then they had their taijutsu which again barely passed for the sake of truth justice and the Amerc…err leaf's way. And now it is time for ninjutsu which he will barely pass for Narni…err Hidden Leaf once again.

"Now come into the next room and I will begin grading you we will start with Shikamaru and once he comes back in he will call in the next student." The entire class nodded and Shikamaru followed Iruka.

One by one the students walked back in proudly displaying their headbands and calling in the next student, "hey dobe Iruka-sensei want you to go, hurry up and fail like last time so I can stop seeing your face." Said Saskue to Naruto; however Saskue caught Naruto when he was in a deep meditative state where he could feel the earth spinning and the slight pull the earth had over the moon above. Naruto may be a good actor but it still kind of hard from having deep inner thought and being connected to the earth itself on a sort of cosmic level to suddenly be jerked into the role of class clown. So once Saskue had insulted Naruto he expected him to lash out but what he got was a far off look from Naruto, a look of deep thinking that he only saw in his father or brother once they where mediating on something very important. _"Guess he really does need divine intervention to pass this test." _Saskue reasoned.

Naruto was now standing before Iruka who was sitting clear across the room, "okay Naruto I need you to perform a henge, substitution, and a three clones." Naruto nodded and henged into the fourth Hokage, Iruka nodded, and passed that as a good henge. Naruto then substituted himself with a potted plant, again Iruka passed him. "Alright good so far so now all you need it tree clones." Iruka encouraged, "I cannot do three regular clones Iruka-sensei... I have too much charka and not enough control." Iruka nodded sadly "than I'm sorry Naruto but…" he was however cut off by Naruto who stated, "The old man however knew this so he allowed me to learn the shadow clone jutsu… the most I can make right now is around two thousand if I push myself, but after that I can only hold them for about an hour before I pass out."

Iruka's jaw was on the floor, "huh… no need for two thousand Naruto three would do." Naruto nodded. He however learned from his training of his Rinnegan that he did not need hand signs or words to crate this jutsu at least. For one, he used it often, and also hand signs are not really meant to give one more control, but it's more like guidelines that helps the caster visualize the jutsu and chakra flow better.

Without a word or hand sign three Naruto clones appeared. Just before Iruka officially marked his ninjutsu as off the charts Naruto stopped him. "Iruka-sensei I would prefer it if you marked me as a just barely passing." Iruka was dumbfounded, never before had a student actually wished it that they be marked down a grade. "Why" was all Iruka could say. Naruto understood his confusion and decided to confess to Iruka, he had proven to be a decent person and was sort of like a big brother figure to Naruto now. "I have not been totally honest with you Iruka-sensei… both the Hokage and I had agreed that It was best to hid my true potential so that my enemies both foreign and domestic would underestimate me and therefore fall much more easily when the time comes. I would prefer it to appear dead last and the incompetent dobe of the academy until I become strong enough to take on the heat of being internationally recognized as a strong and dangerous shinobi." Explained Naruto, Iruka was still surprised by this, "I…It was all an act?" He asked in disbelieve, Naruto began to worry that Iruka had thought that their friendship was an act as well. "Not all of it Iruka-sensei, I actually truly value your friendship… not many people in this village like me for some reason but the Hokage as told me that he would tell me once I have made genin." Naruto admitted. Iruka seemed to relax a little, happy that Naruto was just acting like an idiot and not acting like his friend but actually being his friend. "Well now that you know that I'm not an idiot we can actually have real conversations with meaning," Naruto said with a smile of which Iruka returned his own

"Uh… you goanna give me the headband now or what?" Naruto asked Iruka sweet dropped at that, "O of course hehe," Naruto rolled his eyes while taking the head band from Iruka's extended hand. "Okay Naruto sense you're the last student to get there test I'm coming with you", Naruto nodded and followed Iruka out the door.

"Congratulations everyone in passing your final exam, you are to meet here tomorrow morning for your team assignment so get some rest and celebrate you've earn it."

* * *

An hour later Iruka was sitting next to Naruto at their favorite ramen stand. "So… when did you stop becoming the leafs number one prankster into someone with actual competence?" Asked Iruka jokingly, Naruto had just finished his fourth bowel has he drank the last of the contents of said bowl; he then looked down into the bowl with a far off and thoughtful look. "It was the day Mizuki and Shiruko gave me this," Naruto said while pulling down his collar to show where he hid his deepest scar, both physically and emotionally. Iruka gasped "w…when did that happen!" he practically yelled, Naruto looked down again with a look of pure hatred and his voice was dripping with rage. "The same day those fools died," Naruto said, Iruka was dumbfounded, Naruto Uzumaki, the always happy class clown had killed two people far more powerful than him at the time. "At first I didn't even know that they died but then I heard the rumors, and then I remembered back before I almost died I did something and it caused a crater and their bodies were tossed into the air affectively killing them by breaking all of their bones. At least that's what I was told when I asked the Hokage." Iruka just placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "you did what you had to Naruto, it was either you are them." He reasoned but Naruto already was shaking his head, "No at that point it wasn't self defense I was dead to rights… My last thoughts were of hatred… I hated everything, I hated myself for being weak, I hated the villagers for hating me, I hated Mizuki and Shiruko for killing me… at that point it wasn't about self defense… it was about revenge… I can never forgive myself for allowing myself to be filled with so much hatred, but the scary thing is… in the back of my mind It was kind of relaxing to be able to lose myself… Like I did not have to hold back the dark part of me and just let loose… It's not the fact that I killed that scares me it the fact that I might have enjoyed being the one to decided who lived and who died… and in that moment I decided that I would live and they would die… what kind of monster thinks they have that right?" Naruto said why balling his fists, Iruka looked at him and wrapped him into a hug, "Naruto… the fact that you regret you're actions proves that you aren't a monster, you're only human you can and will make mistakes that you will regret. It's only natural that you wanted justice to be done upon the unjust." After that Naruto seemed to calm down, but he still didn't talk until he was ready to leave. "Thanks Iruka-sensei… I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

The next day all the new genin were assembled in the class room most were talking adamantly with each other except for the quite ones. When Iruka entered the room however the room was dead silent all watching him in anticipation. Iruka cleared his thought, "Alright kids I am here to reveal who you will be paired with in your new genin teams under a jounin sensei… now team 1 will be…"

Naruto trailed off, soon feeling the pull of the earth once more as if it was asking for his attention again and he gladly gave it. _"hmm, it seems like the sun, not the earth is the center of the solar system… and the sun too as gravity… but what holds the sun?... is the sun the center of the universe or is there more than one sun… why does this world need the sun's heat to survive? Why is it a rule that without water life on this world cannot be sustained… why not some other element? Can these simple rules be bent to my will like gravity… gravity is a pillar of sorts to the fabric of the universe it seems and I can manipulate it… If I could manipulate gravity then I may be able to manipulate other fundamental laws of the universe… What about Chakra, what about life and de-"_But Naruto was pulled from his dangerous musings when he heard his name. "Naruto Uzumaki, Saskue Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, you are all members of team seven under Kakashi Hatake."

Sakura cheered that she was in her precious Saskue's team but she glared daggers at Naruto while Saskue just went "hn" and Naruto kept a passive look but inside he was horrified at himself. _"Was I really about to ask myself if I could hold power over life and death? What's wrong with me?" _Naruto thought

Once all the teams were picked up by their sensei's only team seven was left. They waited for a good hour before Sakura voiced the obvious, "he's late" Naruto nodded while Saskue brooded whilst looking out the window. Naruto then decided to get up from his seat and stretch his legs and began to think out loud, "Hmm, Kakashi Hatake… ah that must be it!" Naruto exclaimed while snapping his fingers, "what's it dobe?" asked Saskue who spoke for the first time sense he insulted Naruto yesterday. "There's a running joke in the jounin ranks about a ninja who is always late to almost everything, and this ninja could always be seen with an orange book and a mask covering the lower parts of his face. So either that ninja is Kakashi or our sensei had some important reason to be late." Said Naruto, "How would you know about a running joke within the jounin community?" Asked Sakura, Naruto's shrug was her answer.

A moment later a ninja matching Naruto's earlier description walked in the door, "hmm, mask, orange book, pretty late, yep that Kakashi!" Exclaimed Naruto, Kakashi looked over at his three charges, "well my first impression of you guys is that you're a bunch of idiots, meet me up on the roof so we can introduce ourselves." And with that Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Up on the roof the three genin looked up at their sensei. "Okay sense I don't really know you let's start by introducing ourselves and our hobbies and hopes and dreams, that sort of thing," Kakashi said, "why don't you start sensei?" Asked Sakura, "Okay well my name is Kakashi Hatake… my hopes are... I do have a hobby… and I don't feel like telling you my dreams." Kakashi answered, Naruto just whistled at that "Wow me too you sure we aren't related?" Naruto said sarcastically, "okay your turn smart ass," said Kakashi whilst pointing a finger at Naruto, Naruto just shrugged. "Honestly Kakashi sensei if you are who I think you are you already know me so the point of the introduction is moot." Said Naruto, Kakashi Narrowed is one uncovered eye _"How does he know that I was the Dog ANBU" _he asked himself. Both of Naruto's teammates stared at him in confusion but before they could ask him Kakashi spoke up "alright you're up pinkie." Sakura straitened up "my name is Sakura Haruno, I like… I dislike Ino and Naruto!" Naruto just muttered but loud enough for the other's to hear "yeah love you to." Sakura just narrowed her eyes at the sarcastic comment, "my hopes are… my dream is…" Sakura said her likes, hopes, and dreams all while glancing at Saskue and giving off exited eeps.

"Oookay, your turn silent smart ass." Said Kakashi to Saskue, "my name is Saskue Uchiha, I don't like anything, I hate a lot of things, and I don't have a dream… more of an ambition that I will achieve… I will kill a certain man." The group had many different reactions to Saskue's declaration. _"Saskue-kun is so cool"_ Thought Sakura, _"It's just as I feared, he's hell-bent on killing his brother."_ Thought Kakashi, _"I envy your ignorance." _Thought Naruto

Kakashi then went on to explain that there will only be nine of the academy graduates that will actually become genin and then told them to meet at training ground seven for their test tomorrow at eight in the morning, "O yeah don't eat breakfast, or you'll throw up." And with that Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leafs.

* * *

That night Naruto fell asleep to the gentle feeling of the earth moving and around the sun, it was refreshing that knowing now matter how much his life will change, he could always have this same feeling, always constant, always moving.

* * *

That morning Naruto got up but before he got out of bed he saw the clock. It was seven fifty, _"wait this is Kakashi we are talking about, I still got like three hours." _Naruto then proceeded to sleep in for another two and half hours.

Naruto then arrived at the meeting place with a now irate Sakura and an annoyed looking Uchiha, "your late what if we lost the test because your lazy ass didn't show up!" Screamed Sakura, Naruto just put a finger in his ear, "did you not here me yesterday when I said that Kakashi is always late to everything?" Naruto asked but Sakura did not listen as she hit him on the head for just trying to tempt fate on the off chance that Kakashi wasn't late this time even if it was rare.

"Sorry guys I had to convince the mole people that live under the park to stop pushing there beliefs on random villagers." Kakashi said, Sakura just screamed at him while Saskue narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but Naruto decided to play along. "O really how Fin I haven't seen him sense I had to hang out in the mole kingdom to get the ANBU off my trail for putting itching powder in there masks." Kakashi just eye smiled at Naruto, "O he's been great after the divorce." Kakashi replied, "Wow… you know I told him that she was no good for him and that she only wanted him for his money but at the time he was just so smitten he couldn't listen to reason." Naruto quipped, "Will you two knock it off and get the damn test going already!?" Screamed Sakura. They both just chuckled at her and stopped there tangent.

"Alright you have until noon to get theses bell from me, it's that simple." Kakashi explained, "Umm Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells wouldn't that mean one of us isn't going to pass the test?" Asked Sakura, Kakashi nodded "yep and the one who doesn't get a bell gets sent back to the academy." Naruto narrowed his eyes his brain already had worked out the purpose of the test. _"Ah so teamwork… for some reason bending the very foundation of which this world is made from seems to be easier than to get this team to actually work together." _Naruto thought cynically. "Begin!" Kakashi yelled, and all tree genin jumped into the trees but Naruto followed Saskue knowing that if he convinced him to work together than Sakura would soon follow.

"What are you doing dobe find your own hiding spot!" Saskue hissed at Naruto, "listen to me, the point of the exercise is not to get the bells but to work as a team, he's trying to divide us to make it harder to work together." Naruto said, "hn right and I'm supposed to believe an idiot like you?" Saskue asked sarcastically, Naruto had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. "It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, this test is an old test practically every jounin sensei does it for their first test." Naruto explained Saskue narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "how would a dobe like you know that?" whispered Saskue angrily, this time Naruto did roll his eyes, "do you really give a damn as long as you pass it doesn't really matter to you does it?" Naruto asked, Saskue was still suspicious but nodded none the less. "Good I got a plan so we'll need to get Sakura, "I'm not following any of your plan's dobe." Again Naruto rolled his eyes, "fine Ill come up with the plan and well call it yours if your ego is so easily wounded I frankly don't give two shits about your damn ego so either you come along with it or you go back to the academy your choice." Naruto said angrily. "Fine" replied Saskue and with that they were both off to find Sakura.

Sakura at this time was huffing over mud on her dress when she saw the limp form of Saskue coughing up blood and telling her to run, she then collapsed from fright. Just then Kakashi came down and shook his head in disappointment, "falling for a weak genjutsu like that how pa-"but he was cut off when a fire ball come from behind him forcing him to dodge away, the second he landed Naruto was upon him landing a kick to his chest, _"that kick had some power to it" _Kakashi praised in thought. As Naruto was fending off Kakashi he looked back to his other teammates, "Saskue get Sakura out of here, and I'll meet up with you later, go!" Naruto yelled, _"he's already prepared to face a more powerful opponent if it means that his teammates will be safe? And not only that but the Uchiha seems to have let his ego go for the moment to listen to reason, I might just pass them on that alone, but I want to see what the girl can do before that happens." _Kakashi thought as he kept fighting Naruto, Kakashi finally got a solid hit on the boy but however the boy poof into smoke upon impact, _"a shadow clone?" _Kakashi asked to himself in surprise.

Once safely away from Kakashi, Saskue put Sakura down on the ground and released the genjutsu. Sakura's eyes shot open and got right unto her feet, "who, what, when, where, why, how?" She asked but before she could get answer she heard a chuckle from above her, Naruto fell down in front of them. "Well if we are done with the philosophical questions Saskue and I need to tell you the real purpose of this test, he and I have already done our part so you need to do yours." Sakura looked confused but nodded still, If Saskue agreed to whatever plan Naruto had then she would go along with it.

* * *

Kakashi was lazily reading his book whilst relaxing beside a tree when a series of Kunai came at him, Kakashi swiftly ducked underneath them, when both Naruto and Saskue charged head on at him _"Or maybe they don't realize the point." _Kakashi sighed as the engaged both boys in taijutsu. After a few moments of punching and kicking Kakashi backed off closer to the tree the Kunai were still embedded in, "Is that the best you g-"he was cut off again when suddenly one of the kunai embedded in the tee turned into Sakura, Sakura landed a solid hit on a surprised Kakashi sending him flying, Naruto took this chance to lock eyes onto the bells at Kakashi's waist while the others were distracted. He subtly used the force of gravity to make it look like the bells fell off naturally, the second the bells were falling Naruto deactivated his Rinnegan and leaped at the bells taking both in his hands. However Kakashi regained his feet and was quickly upon Naruto, he grabbed him by his collar of his jacket. "Quickly take the bells!" Naruto yelled and then he threw the bells backwards towards his teammates. Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise, _"when did he take the bells?" _Kakashi wondered, he then put Naruto down and eye smiled at his team. "Congratulations you all pass", with that both Naruto and Sakura cheered and Saskue smirked. "hn it was obvious that the bells were only meant to divide us." Saskue said arrogantly while crossing his arms, Kakashi tilted his head "O… was it obvious before or after Naruto told you the purpose of the test?" Kakashi asked while all the genin looked wide eyed in surprise, "how did you…" Naruto began, Kakashi just put up his hand to silence him "you were practically yelling at Saskue, you weren't all that stealthy." Kakashi stated, while Naruto just rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Well any way, Saskue, you had shown your willingness to put the mission and work with your team over your pride, which is a good first step in becoming a successful ninja. Naruto you not only used your prior knowledge to your advantage but you also were able to rally and unite your team, when you fought me off alone so that your two teammates could escape you also had shown your willingness to die for your teammates, and that is something that I respect. Sakura, you may not have the largest chakra but you have the best control of the group so far and you used it so that you could maintain your henge just long enough for my guard to waver and affectively leading to a successful mission. I am proud of all three of you; you are now proud shinobi of the leaf. Now go celebrate or do whatever, I am headed to the Hokage to report your success." After Kakashi praised his new student he disappeared in a swirl of leafs.

* * *

Moments later Naruto was also headed to the Hokage tower. _"The old man said he wanted to tell me something important about why the villagers hate me so much, he said he would tell me when I become a genin well here I am and I need answers!" _Naruto thought while hoping from roof to roof.

Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office to find only the Hokage sitting in his chair reading some paperwork, "ah Naruto I see that you made genin, congratulations I am very proud of you, Kakashi had just told me all about how you united your team to pass his test a very good job indeed." Naruto nodded, "I need answers," he said simply, Sarutobi just sighed a long heavy sigh full of grief and regret. "Fine Naruto you need to hear this now anyway."

Naruto sat into his chair and both shinobi looked each other in the eyes, "Naruto…" Hiruzen began, "What do you know of the Kyuubi?"

* * *

**(Wow I did not know where to end that, believe it or not but this was originally meant to be a prologue but I felt bad that I made Naruto's awakening of the Rinnegan a bit stale and cliché but you must remember I need to have a way to give it to him before he graduated the academy and the old, Naruto gets attacked Idea was the only one I could work with. Also don't worry about his scar I'll try to get around to explaining it next chapter. Also for those of you who enjoy my other story The New Age of the Uzumaki, fear not the next chapter will be out soon. Well that's all I got to say about that, hope you enjoyed and please review) **


	2. The First Mission

**The Curse of the Rinnegan**

**The First Mission **

**AN: Okay, Okay I'll admit it, I was way to over my head when I said I would publish every week with this, things came up and life happens, also I got a bad case of the writer's block and it total screwed up with my schedule. So for now let's just say I'll update when I update. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **

"Naruto…" Hiruzen began, "What do you know of the Kyuubi?" Hearing that name made Naruto subconsciously activate his Rinnegan for a quick flare up, "What does the Kyuubi have to do with this?" Asked Naruto, his mind was already racing he remembered the glares, the whispers who spoke "demon boy" and "monster" behind his back; he remembered the day he was attacked. Naruto clinched his fist and looked down at his lap, "I…I'm the Kyuubi somehow aren't I?" Naruto began to cry "n…no matter how h…hard I t…try I will a…always be a m…mons-"but Naruto was cut off when Hiruzen spoke up, "no Naruto you're not a monster and you are most defiantly not the Kyuubi." Naruto looked up confusion written on his teary face. "B...but why do the call me demon?" Naruto asked, Sarutobi sighed "twelve years ago the Kyuubi attacked our home, what you must understand about the Kyuubi Is that it is one of the nine bijuu in fact it is the strongest of them all. A bijuu is, at the most basic of explanations, is a living entity of pure demonic chakra, most people believed that the Kyuubi was killed but that is not true. It was basically pure energy given physical form, and as you know energy like that cannot be destroyed, only changed or contained. The fourth Hokage knew that the only way to contain such incredible power was to put it into a living vessel, a human vessel. So because of your timing of birth and the knowledge that you will grow up to do great things, the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze sealed the Kyuubi within you to save the village."

Once Hiruzen was finished Naruto was now in deep thought, _"he did it to save the village like a true Hokage should, he knew storing that much power would come at a cost and he gladly paid it to protect his precious people." _Naruto mused in thought, "So… when they look at me they only see the monster that killed their loved ones, they can't get to the Kyuubi so they get to me." Naruto reasoned, Sarutobi nodded, "unfortunately the average villager and even some shinobi are ignorant to the complex nature of chakra and the nature of jinchuuriki." Naruto looked at his grandfather figure with a bit of relief, "so that is what I am, jinchuuriki, at least I have a name for it." Hiruzen smiled warmly at Naruto, "so how do you feel about all of this now that you know the truth and what you are?" The Hokage asked. Naruto looked him in the eye and gave a proud smile, "already I am protecting everyone in the village by just being alive, even if I never become Hokage I am already doing your job old man!" Naruto proudly stated, Hiruzen looked on at Naruto with pride and laughed warmly, "Well let me be the first to tell you that I am eternally grateful for you being alive Naruto."

That did it, that was the first time anyone had ever said that they were actually truly glad that he was alive, Naruto began to tear up and moved around to hug is grandfather figure, "t…thank you grandfather." Naruto said, Hiruzen returned the hug. "No Naruto my boy, Thank you"

* * *

That night Naruto was laying in bed reflecting on this new information he had just been give, _"he left some things out I am sure of it, for some reason he feels that I am not ready for the whole story…Well if he won't tell me than there is one being who might…Kyuubi, I need to speak with you." _Naruto thought, for a long time nothing happened until Naruto felt a falling sensation even though he was in bed.

The constant faint sound of leafs rustling in the background of the night was replaced now with a dripping sound. Naruto opened his eyes, he looked around and saw that he was in a large room of sorts; he then looked directly ahead of himself. There before him stood a large cage with the kanji for seal in the middle.

Beyond the bars of the cage was one large red eye that was glaring at Naruto with all of the hate and malice that it could muster.

Naruto looked at the eyes, he then activated his Rinnegan so that he could see the form of whatever was glaring at him with so much hatred, what he saw made him gasp, hidden in darkness that his normal eyes could not see was the laying form of a gigantic fox with nine tails.

"K…Kyuubi" Stuttered Naruto, the fox gave him a low growl **"what is it you want mortal…" **the fox trailed off when he saw the rippled eyes, the Kyuubi gave him a low growl and attempted to claw at Naruto thorough the bars but was just out of reach, but despite being out of reach Naruto still jumped back. **"How dare you come before me with those eyes! You are not worthy to bare such eyes!" **Kyuubi growled at Naruto.

Naruto took a moment to collect himself and his brain began to work out where he was, _"so this is some sort of mental plane that allows Kyuubi and I to communicate, so that means I am in my mind… that means I have full control of the situation as long as the fox stays in his cage." _Naruto deduced Naruto became calm after that now feeling much more confident, he then began to slowly walk closer to the bars. He was now about ten meters form them when he stopped to look up into the angry crimson eyes of the fox.

"No man is worth of anything until he has proven otherwise Kyuubi." Naruto said while crossing his arms, some of the anger left the Kyuubi's eyes and was replaced with mild curiosity. **"And you never will for you are weak, only a fool like you would believe that you could ever use them properly!" **Kyuubi then attempted to claw at Naruto again, Naruto did not even move from his spot, when the claws came within inches from his head they stopped. Not because out of Kyuubi's mercy but because Naruto had used his gravity ability to push back the claws, Naruto's eyes never left the Kyuubi's and a battle of wills ensued. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, claws inches from Naruto's head and Naruto keeping them at bay. Just then Naruto spoke up, "I do not have all night with this Kyuubi." And with that he put as much force as he could muster and pushed the claw back into the cage with all his might.

The Kyuubi's eyes widened a bit in surprise when his claws were forced back into the cage. The fox then gave reluctant snort which is all the recognition he gave Naruto for the amazing feet he just pulled. **"You may have mastered gravity but you will never understand the other five paths!" **That made Naruto raise a brow at him, "do you know the other powers of the Rinnegan?" Naruto asked, Kyuubi just gave another snort, **"of course I do but what makes you believe I would tell you." **Kyuubi said Naruto just shrugged at that, "you have nothing to fear by telling me the knowledge you have regarding my eyes because according to you I will never master them." Kyuubi just narrowed his eyes at the little mortal, **"right you are mortal I bet you could not even master one of the most basic of paths, the Preta path." ** Kyuubi said with confidence, however he was unaware that the mere mention of said path began to have something click in Naruto's head, It seemed that the Kyuubi had inadvertently gave Naruto basic knowledge of the Preta path. "_Preta path… chakra" _was the only thing that slipped into Naruto's mind.

Naruto just gave a wide smile towards the fox, "Thank you." Naruto said, that made the Kyuubi confused, but before he could ask the blond what he meant the kid disappeared from his mindscape.

* * *

The next day Naruto meet up with his teammates at a bridge that Kakashi told them to meet at. However Naruto was in deep thought about this new path, _"Petra path and chakra, what is the connection, does it allow me to see chakra better, does it help me to understand it better?" _

Both Sakura and Saskue were surprised to see Naruto being quiet and appearing to be in deep thought. "Hey dobe don't think too hard you might hurt yourself," Saskue goaded. But Naruto did not here him instead he walked passed them and walked across the bridge and sat against a nearby tree. He then closed his eyes and began to breathe slow deep breaths to calm his mind, first he felt the familiar spin of the earth but then later he began to feel some sort of warm flow in his body. _"What is this? Is this… is this my chakra flow? Yes that must be it… So Preta path has made me aware of my own chakra flow like my gravity manipulation has done with the spin of the earth…" _ Naruto kept meditating on the nature of his own chakra all the while not noticing the odd stares his teammates were giving him.

A few more hours later and still no sign of Kakashi, getting bored Saskue moved over to Naruto to see if he could get a rise out of him and maybe beat his ass in a spar to pass the time. "Hey dobe stop trying to act cool by being quiet you now you could never be like me." Said Saskue, "Yeah stop trying to be like Saskue-kun he'll always be cooler than you." Supplied Sakura, but both of their attempts to get a rise out of the blond failed, _"Is he broken?"_ thought Sakura, _"dobe… you're just trying to annoy me aren't you?" _Thought Saskue, Naruto however was still thinking of his new path and what it meant.

"_It's said that the sage was the first one to use chakra… then would that mean that he had the ability to give normal people means to mold it as well? That would imply that he might have had the ability to give his chakra to someone in order to jump start there underdeveloped coils… then if that is true then maybe this Preta path has something to do with the giving chakra… however maybe just like with the gravity techniques then the opposite is true as well. I need to experiment with this… maybe the old man would let me use him as a test subject?" _Naruto elaborated in thought.

Angry at still being ignored Saskue rushed over to Naruto and yanked him up by his collar. "Listen dobe don't think that you could ignore an elite Uchiha and get away with it!" Saskue said trying desperately to pass the time, if it made him look like an ass that was fine by him anything was better than sitting around being bored.

Naruto was surprised by Saskue's sudden appearance, he was in such deep thought that he didn't even notice that he was even at the meeting place. But his surprise turned into anger, he never liked being pulled out of mediation, when he was in deep thought he could be himself, he could put all his problems before him work thorough them as best he could one by one. No mask, no fake smiles, no pretending. But to be torn form himself and be forced to use his mask was something that he could not easily forgive.

Naruto looked down at Saskue with all of his hatred he had at that moment, he then sent a swift kick to his gut forcing Saskue to drop him as he crumpled on the floor from the surprise attack.

"You hurt Saskue-kun you idiot!" Sakura yelled Naruto however was already walking away from the Uchiha towards the bridge; he was half way to the other side when he heard Saskue call back. "Are you running away now dobe? Are you to afraid to fight me?!" Saskue yelled at Naruto's back, Naruto just gave a heavy sigh as he stopped and turn to face the enraged Uchiha at the other side of the bridge. "I was relaxing and you disturbed me, so I kicked you for annoying me, that's not a fight it's just a reminder not to ever do that again." Naruto stated like it was a well known fact. And with that he walked away, Naruto was done with his team for the day; Kakashi would just have to go get him at his apartment when he was ready.

* * *

All throughout that month there was tension in the team, Saskue kept glaring at Naruto, Naruto was pissed that the Hokage had been so busy lately with establishing relations with some new mysterious village that he could not find time for him. And Sakura was also angry at Naruto for not apologizing for hurting Saskue.

Kakashi had sensed the tension and had decided that maybe some time out of the village would be best for everyone on the team, so he had requested to the Hokage that his team be given a C-ranked mission.

"Alright Kakashi I see your point, maybe some time away from the village could help bring your team closer." Said the Hokage who was sitting at his desk, "Now let's see here… hmm… ahh here's a good one, A group of bandits have taken over a gold mine near the border to Land of Rivers , your mission is to kill or capture all of the bandits and rescue the miners held prisoner." The Hokage said. Kakashi nodded and took the mission scroll.

Team seven were at their bridge again, all still refusing to say a word towards each other when Kakashi appeared in a poof, "good news everyone" Kakashi began, "I've got us a C-ranked mission." All the genin looked wide eyed at that, "finally!" Exclaimed Naruto, while Sakura smiled and Saskue smirked, "well pack your bags for a long trip and meet me at the south gate and I'll explain the mission once we set off." Kakashi said before disappearing in another poof of smoke, Naruto rushed toward his apartment exited that he finally gets to leave the village and see new places.

* * *

An hour later all of team seven was at the gates, "so what's the mission?" Naruto asked eagerly, Kakashi then motioned for his team to follow him; they set off at a walking pace so that they hear him but still be moving. "A group of bandits have taken control of a gold mine near the border to the Land of Rivers. Our mission is to kill our capture all of the bandits and liberate the miners held prisoner." Kakashi told them, both Saskue and Naruto looked pleased that they would have to fight for their first mission however Sakura looked more apprehensive. Kakashi then told them to pick up speed and head for the trees.

* * *

They were running at a fast pace for hours and it was starting to get dark. "Alright I see a clearing were we can set up camp up ahead." Said Kakashi, they all dropped down and made to set up camp.

They were all gathered around the camp fire, it was quiet, peaceful, and a comfortable sort of silence settled in until Kakashi decided to break it. "Why do you fight?" That question had all the genin taken aback, in all the time that they had known Kakashi, which wasn't that long, they had operated under the assumption that Kakashi wasn't a very serious person but for some reason he had asked a very serious question. "What do you mean by that Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Sakura, Kakashi gave her one of his eye smiles, "I mean what drives you three, what keeps you going, I find it important to know this so that you guys can get to know each other better and therefore make an affective team." Kakashi explained, when no one answered right away Kakashi decided to break the ice, it was only fare to reveal something personal as well. "For me… it was first to try make a name for myself, to try to distance myself as far as possible from my father, but then after a mission that ended in one of my best friends and teammate dying, my reasons changed to wanting to protect those close to me so that I would never have to see a friend die again." Everyone was silent, they had no idea that Kakashi's best friend died during a mission or the fact that he would ever reveal something as personal as this.

Surprising enough it was Sakura that decided to speak up her voice was quiet and barley a whisper but everyone could still here it. "I…I had a sister… or was going to have one… but she didn't make it, my parents where both really sad and all I wanted to do was to make them happy again, when I saw how happy other parents were when their children became a ninja that's when I decided to do all I could to become ninja so my parents could smile again… When I came home with the leaf forehead protector on, that was the first time I saw my parents truly happy in a long time." Sakura said smiling fondly at the memory of her parents smiling.

Everyone looked shocked at Sakura's words, none of them knew this, Sakura was just supposed to be the selfish fan girl, none of them expected it of her to willingly walk the hard path of the ninja just to see her parents smile. Everyone's respect grew for Sakura at that moment.

Again a surprise once Saskue was the one to start opening up he sounded reluctant for he had never talked about this to anyone but there was just something about this moment that made him want to talk about it, "my brother…h…he killed every single one of my clan, not only that but he forced me to watch him kill my family over and over and over again for seventy two hours in his genjutsu. All because he wanted to test himself…that is why I fight… I fight to avenge my clan and to rid the world of that monster."

No surprise there except for Sakura who had no idea, if her gasp was anything to go by.

Now it was Naruto, he had been respectfully quit this entire time as the cracks in everyone's masks began to show, his three teammates looked at him expectantly. _"It's only fare to show them a little bit of the real me as well." _Thought Naruto, Naruto was sitting down and had his hands under his chin; he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "At first it was for recognition, I wanted people to notice me even if it was not the right type of attention I should be getting. All of the villager's hate me… I've been accused for things I have not done, I have been hunted like a wild animal, it got so bad that the last attempt of my life left me with this," Naruto said as he pulled down his collar to show them his scar from the time he had his throat slit, gasps from Sakura and wide eyes from Saskue were his response from his fellow teammates. "I should have died that day, they cut my jugular and I had only seconds until I died…but I didn't, but despite all of that I still will protect the village with my life, because I made a promise that day that I would become strong enough to face all enemies both foreign and domestic." Everyone in the camp had their own thoughts, _"I had no idea that Naruto had gone through that." _Sakura though, _"why would anyone want to kill the dobe he's not that bad right?" _Saskue contemplated, _"I should have been there that day." _Kakashi thought with regret.

The entire camp was silent for a long while every one of them was reflecting on what each of them had said until Naruto was the first one to move to his sleeping bag and soon everyone else followed.

Naruto was soon lulled to sleep by the pull of the constant yet comforting feeling of the earth spinning.

* * *

The next day team seven was on the move, no words were spoken between the young genin, neither knowing what they could say to each other. None of them had ever opened up like that before except to their most trusted of people. So why did it feel easy to talk about their pasts to their teammates? Was it a moment of weakness, was it out of a sense of fairness because the other people on the team had opened up a bit, or maybe, just maybe it was because despite their differences, they could not help but start to become friends.

"Kakashi-sensei how are we going to go about this, I doubt that we are just going to walk right into the mines and ask for their surrender are we?" Naruto asked from his right side, they kept hopping through the trees for a moment when Kakashi turned his head to answer, "you're right, the mine's entrance is actually on the side of a mountain, there is a large town on the base of the mountain that has prospered in the past due to its location along the trade routes as well as being so close to a gold mine. The people that have hired us are the merchant guild in the town, we are going to go to them for some more detailed information and then we will use the town as a base of operations until we feel ready to move in." Explained Kakashi

The genin nodded and they headed onwards towards their objective.

* * *

When Kakashi said a mountain he meant _a_ mountain, one single lonely mountain surrounded by a forest and a large town at its southern base. The town itself looked like a cross between the market district and residential district in the Leaf Village. There were shops and clubs on one side of the street and on the other there were apartment and hotels, right now however it was night time and team seven were asked to report to the merchant guild as soon as they got into town.

The building was a plane square building, it was only two stories and there was light coming out of the window to indicate someone was inside.

Kakashi was the first one in followed by the rest of the genin. They walked into a lobby area, it had black marble stoned with a red carpet that lead from the entrance into a door on the other side of the room, on the right was a receptionist desk and on the left were six black leather chairs.

Kakashi saw the person behind the desk and cleared his thought to get her attention. The woman looked up to see the masked face of Kakashi waiting patiently for her to realize that this was the team from the Leaf that her boss had told her about. "O hello there, your clients are just thought that door, they are in a meeting however but I am sure that they would be pleased to be able to get started as soon as possible." The woman said, Kakashi nodded and motioned for his team to follow.

They walked through the door to find a similar room in color, with its black marble floor, white walls, and a single red carpet that ran the length of the room, although this room was much bigger, it had one long table in the middle that sat atop the red rug, on either side there were men in suits, a dozen men on either side. The entire back wall had three large arching windows were you could see the mountain in the distance. At the head of the table sat a woman, she also had a suit on. She gave off an air of professionalism, she was an older woman, probably in her late forties, her graying hair was tied in a bun and she wore a pair of glasses.

It seemed that team seven had walked in on her giving a speech about maintain their integrity and dealing with their problems in an efficient yet honorable way and to not give into the demands of lesser men. "That is why I say to all of you that we of this guild cannot be the ones to give into the demands of those bandits and we press on, I have a plan in motion that will not only get us the mines back but also your families and…" The woman trailed off when she saw the team from the leaf had just arrived. She gave them a small smile but quickly put it behind a mask of professionalism, "and here they are, as you all know I had sent word to the leaf about our problem and here is the solution, now if you will all excuse us I need to discuss some things with them." The woman said when she said that all two dozen of the men bowed respectfully at the woman and left the room.

"Kakashi it's been a while, last I saw you, you were with your own sensei, now it seems like life has come full circle hasn't it." The woman said while smiling at Kakashi, Kakashi's one visible eye widened, "Ekiko?" Asked Kakashi, Ekiko smiled again at the man, "yep, although you still had both eyes back then." Ekiko said, "Kakashi-sensei how do you know this woman?" Asked Naruto, Ekiko turned her head to look at Naruto when she did her eyes widened, "K…Kakashi h…he looks just like Minato!" Ekiko gasped, Naruto looked confused, while Kakashi was sweating on the inside, he quickly attempted to change the subject before things got out of hand. "So what's the problem we where only aware of miners being held prisoner but from what you said it seems like the merchant guild also has people held hostage."

Ekiko turned back to professional mode and looked Kakashi in the eye. "Two days ago the bandits stated kidnapping members of the merchants families to try to gain influence over them, from what we know they had taken Denma-san's daughters during the night, Denma-san owns all of the black smiths in town, later they took Sai-san's wife and brother, he runs the trade posts and auction houses in town." She reported, Kakashi and Naruto were running all this information though their heads and to everyone's surprise it was Naruto who spoke up with his conclusion first.

"Theses bandits are not just your typical smash and grab type, first they took the mines not raided they took it, that alone proves that they are organized with a leader who has some sort of plan and with means to either safely store away the gold or have immediate access to buyers who are willing to deal with them. Then they took hostages for what we could only assume to be a way to gain leverage over the merchant guild. So they took away a valuable source of income for the town, then they targeted the people who are also responsible for this towns wealth. Everything they have done so far has been a means to gain wealth and influence…now all they need is the power and sooner or later this town is theirs," concluded Naruto.

Everyone in the room was surprised that Naruto of all people actually thought something out, not only that but what he was saying made sense, "How did you come to that conclusion Naruto?" Asked Kakashi, "It's similar to what would do in their position." Naruto simply said Kakashi nodded dumbly still surprised by the bout of logic coming from what they all assumed to be the dumb one of the group.

"Right well we need a layout of the land fist and whatever information you have on the bandits and whoever there leader may be." Said Kakashi to Ekiko, Ekiko walked over to the head of the table and took out a manila folder that was hidden under other paperwork.

"This is a map of the area around the mountain, I am sorry but once they took control over the mines they have left everyone in the dark, we have no idea as to their numbers or who their leader is." Ekiko reported

Kakashi nodded at that, "alright we'll come up with something; we will meet you when we have a plan." Kakashi said and with that team seven left to find a hotel.

* * *

Later that night in the hotel the team gathered to discuss a plan. "We first need to gather information on the bandit, their numbers types of defenses, and find out who is leading them." Kakashi explained, the genin were all in deep thought until Naruto spoke up. "Maybe one of us could sneak in and henge into one of the bandits… they could gather as much information as possible and then get back to us so we could work out a plan there." Everyone looked thoughtful at that. "It does seem like the best option… I have the most experience and could pull it off but I want one of you to come with me." Kakashi said, Naruto and Saskue stood up at the same time, "I'll do it!" they shouted in unison, but Kakashi was already shaking his head, "this operation demands that you are able to pull off a perfect henge and maintain it for a long period of time and neither of you have that type of control." Kakashi said, Naruto however did have the control, thanks to his Preta path his control spiked up incredibly so but he had already slipped up twice and he did not need his teammates getting suspicious, he may have opened up a bit to them but he still did not trust them.

Saskue was fuming, _"is he going to take the useless fan girl along with this… she can't do anything useful!" _Saskue thought angrily to himself, Kakashi turned to Sakura and gave her one of his eye smiles, "Sakura you have the best control of the group besides me, I know you don't have a lot of experience but that is why I will be coming with you for back up." Kakashi reassured her, Sakura however was feeling conflicted, she wanted to help but she also didn't want to make Saskue angry with her. _**"If we do this then we will prove that we are not worthless!" **_Said inner Sakura, _"but it might make Saskue-kun mad at me," _Sakura said to herself, _**"once were done with this he will be so impressed that he would have to go out with us!" **_Inner Sakura retorted, _"You're right if we show that we are not just another pretty face than we will win Saskue-kun's heart!" _Responded Sakura enthusiastically to herself, Sakura then smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"What are we supposed to do sit around while you guys get all the fun?!" Naruto yelled in an attempt to keep up his crumbling façade, Kakashi looked at Naruto thoughtfully, _"what's with him, one moment he deduces the situation and gives us a simple yet affective plan and the next he is yelling like an idiot? Either he has some serious split personality or he is hiding something." _Kakashi mused in thought, "well no you guys will be staying in town and trying to gather information as well, if I know bandits then I am pretty sure you could find at least one of them boasting about something in a bar." Kakashi said, "O so while you two are in the lion's den we just have to sit back and get drunk?!" Saskue asked angrily, Kakashi eye smiled at him, "yep it seems that you two get all the luck." Kakashi responded jokingly. Saskue was still fuming, he wanted to fight and prove that he had gotten stronger even if it might be a bunch of untrained bandits.

"Alright get some rest, Sakura and I will head off to the mines in the morning and bait a few bandits and take them out so we can disguise as them, while you two go around and gather information here," Kakashi ordered.

* * *

The next day Kakashi had reported to Ekiko about their plan and was already in a hidden spot looking at the entrance to the mines, the mines themselves were guarded by two large men with spiked clubs. Kakashi and Sakura were hidden behind a rock with a good view of the entrance and the two guards.

"We need to get inside without them noticing," Kakashi whispered, "why not just henge into the guards?" Sakura asked in her own whisper, "because the other's will find it suspicious if the guards decided to walk in for no apparent reason." Kakashi explained, Sakura nodded at that, "I have been studying some genjutsu; maybe I could try one that makes them oblivious to us." Sakura said, Kakashi nodded, "alright but be careful," Sakura nodded and made a few hand signs and whispered the name of her jutsu.

The reaction from the guards was not apparent, Kakashi uncovered his eye to determine weather or not it had worked. Once he saw the tell tale signs of someone under a genjutsu he nodded, "it seems to have worked…good job Sakura," Kakashi said, Sakura beamed with pride at that, Kakashi then carefully left the rock and quietly approached the guards, the guards however gave no indication that they had seen him. Kakashi then motioned for Sakura to follow and she did.

Once trough the corridor that was the entrance, they came upon a large cave lit by torches, the sound of pickaxes hitting stone could be heard all throughout the cave, the occasional sound of a cracking whip and a yelp of pain was heard periodically as well.

When she first heard the cries of pain Sakura winced, she hated people that treated others like that and it disgusted her to even be near people like that. Meanwhile Kakashi was scanning the cave, the entrance was on an upper level, there was a path that lead down to the actual mine that was a hundred meters below them, the mine itself had one large cave with other corridors leading to other deposits of gold and possibly living quarters for the bandits and the miners.

It was just lucky for them that Kakashi spotted two bandits walking up the path towards the entrance, "get ready Sakura there are two guys walking up." Kakashi whispered while pulling out a kunai.

Sakura was nervous, this was her first real mission and the first time she would be in actual combat. She turned towards the men who were unknowingly on a collision course to their dooms. Sakura breathed deeply to calm her nerves and pulled out her own kunai, her hand was shaking both form nerves and anticipation. She spotted her target; she would take the one on her left while Kakashi dealt with the one walking next to the other on the right.

Sakura remembered her lessons at the academy when it came to dealing with an enemy silently; in the few moments they took to reach them she studied her target. He was a young man in his mid twenties possibly he wore a casual t-shit that was stained with dirt and blood, he had shoulder length brown hair, long black pants and back sandals, he had a smug look on his face like the type that only people who bullied those who are weaker than them could have.

She immediately did not like this guy, she decided that her best option would be to go for the throat and end it quickly. She never killed before so she was understandably scared shitless, at this point Kakashi and Sakura were sticking to the walls hidden in the shadows that the torches could not reach, once the two men were within striking distance Kakashi gave the signal "now." Kakashi whispered, all doubts, all nerves, and all fear left Sakura. All that she felt now was pure adrenalin, she silently landed behind her target, the man was taller than her so she had to jump on his back. She immediately put her left hand around his mouth and slid her right hand wielding the kunai across his neck. She heard the man attempt to scream out but it was muffled by her hand, then she heard the gurgling noise he made after she slit his throat. She stayed on his back until he collapsed on the ground, her right hand was bloody and her left had some saliva on it from his attempts to scream out.

Sakura was trembling, this was her first kill, she could not justify it under the guise of self defense, no this was just strait up cold blooded. She wanted to say to herself that this was a bad man but she couldn't, she did not know this man, his life, his name, or his story. She just judged him by the smug ass look he had on his face, she felt horrible, like some sort of monster that decided to kill on a whim.

Kakashi dealt with his opponent quickly as well. He looked over at the trembling Sakura and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It gets easier Sakura, these people are holding these miners captive and treating them like slaves, we do what we have to for the sake of the mission." Kakashi whispered, Sakura nodded weakly, secretly thankful that her teacher gave her good justification to her actions so she does not feel like a monster. Kakashi and Sakura then went about to henge into the two men, after that Kakashi used an earth jutsu to bury the corpses underneath the walk way.

The two of them then walked down the path way, they took note of everything of importance, none of the bandits gave the two a second glance, many of them seemed to be armed with swords and clubs and a few spears. Not many even had armor; the miners all looked disheveled with obvious signs of malnutrition, they then walked down a corridor. They rounded the corner that lead to a room that served as the miners living quarter but sense most of them were out mining only the few sickly miners were left behind.

They left the room and found what seems to be more living quarters but only for the bandits. Theses however were not as empty; many bandits were sitting around drinking, talking, laughing, and generally having a good time. The two decided to hang around for a bit in hopes of finding out what sort of things that the bandits were planning.

"So then I says to the guy… why the ell du ew even have aye horse if ya ain't goanna use em?" A clearly drunk man said while sitting at a table with three equally drunk men. "E says to me... cuze it looks pretty… I go what the fuck that mean… and your man goes and alks away… it was then I realized that rich people fuck their own horses!" The drunk man said as if he had just discovered some scientific breakthrough, deciding that they would not get anything useful from the drunk me they turned to walk away when one of the lesser drunk men spoke up.

"Hey so we goanna do it tonight?" he asked his comrades, the three others looked at him and gave him sly grins, "hell yeah we are, the boss said he's got what he wants now all we need to do is go wild in town and by him enough time to get away with the gold." One of the men said, "But what about the girls and that rich prick?" Asked the man who started the conversation, "hell if I know all I care about Is getting my cut and getting my ass back home." Responded another man, it was then that Kakashi decided to subtly pry for more information, "hey if we are heading out I would at least like to look at the girls one last time… were the hell are they?" Asked a disguised Kakashi, the other's looked at him and there grins grew wider, "hell Fuka you've got to be the hornyist guy I've ever met." One of the men said laughing and the other's joined in, the disguised Kakashi just shrugged, "alright… there were they have been for the last few days," said one of the men, Kakashi nodded and left with Sakura in tow.

* * *

Meanwhile Saskue and Naruto were walking around town trying to see if they could hear any useful information. It was too early to go to a bar so the next best place for information would be at a market.

"Dobe use your shadow clones to sped out around town so this goes faster." Saskue said, yes for the past month of being on the team Kakashi has actually trained his students, during a lecture on training practices Kakashi explained to his other students of the pros and cons of the shadow clones after Saskue expressed desire to learn the technique. Naruto rolled his eyes but did as asked, he might not like it but it was a good plan. He made fifty clones and they spread out all throughout the town, while Naruto and Saskue stayed in the market area.

They kept their ears opened but to avoid boredom Naruto decided to make small talk.

"Hey Saskue you think you'll be able to awaken you're Sharingan during the mission?" Naruto asked Saskue smirked at that "of course once we get into a fight I should be able to awaken it… not like you would ever understand the ways of an elite Uchiha." Saskue boasted Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment, "why is that the Sharingan is awakened during times of great stress?" Naruto asked Saskue scoffed at that, "like I would tell you the secrets of my clan." Saskue said, but honestly that made him think, he never really questioned it before, he just figured that it was just the way of things but now he was beginning to wonder if there might be a better way to advance his power.

Naruto ignored Saskue's retort but continued to think out load. "Maybe it has something to do with the fight or fight response and once that response is first triggered the mixture of adrenalin and chakra jumpstarts your brains ocular nerves." Naruto mused, Saskue had his mouth open in surprise by the fact that Naruto was not only using big words but he was using them correctly. He quickly recovered and smirked at the blond. "You shouldn't use such big words dobe you might hurt yourself." Saskue taunted, Naruto gave him a smirk of his own "aww you do care!" Naruto exclaimed jokingly, Saskue was taken aback, he had meant to make fun of the blond not make it sound like he was concerned for him. "Shut up dobe I don't care about anyone," Saskue fumed, Naruto however chuckled at him, "yeah sure that's why I keep seeing you glance at Sakura form time to time." Naruto joked, that seemed to make Saskue both angry but a little bit embarrassed for some reason. "I…do…not… glance at Sakura!" Saskue said while poking Naruto's chest to emphasize his point, Naruto chuckled again and put up his hands in surrender like fashion. "Okay okay," Naruto said before he got a fox like grin on his face "you stare at Sakura." Naruto stated, Saskue fumed even more but before he could hit him he saw Naruto's face suddenly turn serious. "What is it?" Saskue asked, "One of my clones just dispersed after he heard something of interest," Naruto said, "well what did it hear?" Saskue prodded, "it seems like this mission just got a lot harder." Naruto stated.

* * *

Kakashi and Sakura walked through the corridors of the mine; Sakura heard weeping in a side room down the corridor they were walking in. Kakashi heard it as well, they both moved into the room to find four girls and a man all chained to the back wall of the dimly lit room.

The youngest of the four girls was a girl around Sakura's age and two appeared to be twins both in their late teens and the oldest one looked to be in her forties. The man however looked to be in his thirties. When Kakashi and Sakura walked into the room they all shied away from them in fear.

Kakashi walked up to the sitting forms of the prisoners and dropped his henge, they all gasped at seeing the bandit suddenly turn into a leaf ninja. "Shh" Said Kakashi, "I am here with a team, I'm going to get you out just stay quite." Kakashi then broke the chains off of the prisoners and redid his henge. "Alright follow me." Whispered Kakashi, the group of prisoners followed Kakashi with a disguised Sakura following close behind them.

Once in the main chamber the group got odd looks from the miners, one of the bandits saw the group and spoke up. "Oi Fuka were you taking the hostages?" Kakashi turned towards the man who spoke up, "boss said he wanted them outside for something, he didn't say, I sure as hell ain't pissing him off." The bandit nodded and turned his back toward the group.

Once outside and away from the mines both Kakashi and Sakura dropped their respective henge. Another wave of gasps came from the former hostages when they saw just how young Sakura was. "Alright we need to hide you guys at the merchant guild until this blow over." Kakashi said and all the former hostages nodded.

Kakashi and Sakura arrived at the same building that they had met Ekiko in; once again they seem to have interrupted a meeting. Once the door opened all of the business men including Ekiko turned towards the group. Two business men jumped up from their seats and rushed at the group, the three young girls ran passes Kakashi to the older looking man to the left while the man to the right rushed towards the oldest woman and wrapped her in a loving embrace.

Kakashi nodded towards Ekiko and said, "We got them out but we still have the bandits to deal with, I need to find the rest of my team so we can compare notes." Ekiko nodded at that, Kakashi motioned Sakura to follow him, Sakura followed, seeing the heartwarming moment of families being reunited had help sooth her guilt about killing.

* * *

Naruto and Saskue were in the hotel room sitting in silence, both were thinking of ways to figure out a way out of their current predicament. The door to their room opened and Kakashi and Sakura walked it. Seeing his student's serious faces Kakashi instantly got a bad feeling.

"We got a problem Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "What is it?" Kakashi asked, "There leader plans on razing the entire town tonight, but that's not the problem… there leader is a missing-nin, from what I gathered he's probably on your level." Naruto reported

Kakashi sighed, "We need to evacuate the town, I'll deal with the ninja and you guys deal with the thugs, normally sense this mission now involves a high level shinobi I would recommend us leaving because this mission just jumped from C to possibly A… but we are so deep into it already I guess we just have to see it through." Kakashi said all the genin nodded their agreement.

* * *

The plan was simple; Naruto, Saskue, and Sakura would ambush the thugs while Kakashi engages the ninja. Naruto was hiding in the trees with Sakura on one side of the path way that lead up to the mines, while Saskue and Kakashi were hiding behind the rocks. They had a trap rigged where once the lead bandits tripped the trip wire then it would set off a flash tag and blind the thugs, the genin would then rain down projectile at the stunned bandits. Kakashi would use the confusion to pick out the ninja.

Naruto described the ninja as a tall man who was bald, and with a slashed Sand village forehead protector. Not the most detailed description but Naruto's clone would have been discovered if it had not dispelled one it did.

It was now night time and the only lights were the lights from the village down the mountain. Naruto was in a tree and Sakura was to his left on another tree.

Saskue was hidden down a slope behind some rocks along with Kakashi, they had waited unmoving for the last hour, Naruto then spotted torches being carried by men coming from the mine's.

It seems that team seven had underestimated the number of bandits. From what Naruto could see there were at least three hundred men marching three men abreast, it also seems from there posture that they had also miss judged that these men where untrained. But Naruto could not see the leader; he made a bird call to signal for the others to get ready.

All members off team seven stiffened as they got ready for the battle. As the army got closer the sound of marching feet became louder, all the genin pulled out a kunai, Naruto activated his Rinnegan in an attempt to search for the ninja but he still came up empty.

The army was now near the ambush sight, their torches now lighting the area a bit. The army was now very close; Naruto knowing that they had very little chance to take down three hundred men began subtly increasing the gravity around the army. The three thugs in the lead triggered the trap and a second later a blinding white light blinded the first hundred men while the rest drew their weapons, simultaneously Saskue, who saw the numbers and had placed an explosive note on his kunai, threw it in the middle of the army column. Sakura did her part and tossed her explosive Kunai into the head of the army, while Naruto increased the gravity tenfold and threw his explosives as well.

The result was a bloody mess of gore and flesh, the bandits barely able to move from the increased gravity got the brunt end of the explosives, they were given no respite when more volleys of explosives came crashing down on them. None were able to move for cover due to the gravity, which many of them voiced.

Within minutes the three hundred man army become only a few dozen, having used up there explosives the three genin moved to take out the rest of the stunned men. They were sitting ducks thanks to Naruto and his gravity manipulation.

Sakura having her mind on the mission and not really registering what she was doing hacked and slashed at the frightened bandits; she was full of adrenalin so the gore of the battle had still not affected her yet.

Saskue sent a pair of fire balls at his handful of still unmoving opponents, in an instant the men were screaming and burning. While Saskue smirked at the easy of this ambush, he then realize that this was in fact too easy. _"Something isn't right, this is way too easy, none of them are moving…why is that?" _Saskue asked himself

Naruto having become board with this ambush already just further increased the gravity on his dozen men to which caused all of their bones to break killing them instantly. The men's bodies hit hard on the ground, Naruto then ran towards his two teammates, Saskue didn't even look winded but Sakura however was looking down at her hands in horror.

"_H…How many people d…did I just k…kill!?" _Sakura asked herself, she began to cry, not for the men she had killed, not for the blood on her cloths, but out of fear of herself. _"I…I'm a monster… a cold blooded killer!" _Sakura began to panic, her breaths became short and her eyes began to widen.

Naruto saw the state Sakura was in and rushed to wrap her into a hug. "Shh its okay Sakura…you're not a monster, you did what you had to." Naruto had seen that face before, he saw it in himself every day, he knew if he did not have the third to talk to once he had deduced that he had been the one that had killed Mizuki and Shiruko then he knew for sure that he would start to believe that he actually was a monster.

Sakura broke down in Naruto's arms, she didn't care at that moment that it wasn't Saskue that was hugging her, all she wanted right now was to know that she was not a monster and that people would not be ashamed of her. Naruto was slowly stroking the back of Sakura's head, "I know how you feel Sakura, and believe me you are not a monster, the fact that you are feeling guilt right now proves that." Sakura looked up at Naruto upon hearing those words, she was stunned, she had no idea that Naruto of all people had killed before this mission. But once she saw his eyes she knew it was true, those blue eyes held a lot of pain, so much that she forgot that it was Naruto she was looking at for a second, "h…how do you live with it?" Sakura asked in a whisper, Naruto just gave a weak smile, "It sounds cruel but you kind of just stop feeling guilty after a while, you realize that these are things that you must do and that in order to protect the village and your loved ones you must do these things, if you don't then who will?" Naruto admitted, Sakura looked away from Naruto, she did not like feeling guilty, but she did not want to stop feeling all together. "Sakura… the leader is still out there we need to find him and Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, Sakura nodded weakly, he let her go, Sakura for some reason she couldn't explain found herself missing the warmth of Naruto, but she quickly recovered and put her mind to the mission.

* * *

Meanwhile Kakashi had spotted the leader a few moments before the ambush began; he was actually in further down the mountain which was why Naruto could not spot him.

The leader of the bandits was currently rushing towards the center of town hopping from roof to, to roof top. When suddenly a Kunai came from behind him forcing himself to dodge, he landed gracefully on the main street below, the street lights gave off an orange glow to the wide street. The missing-nin looked at his attacker and was surprised to see none other than Kakashi of the Sharingan standing before him.

"Kakashi Hatake… I had no idea you were in town." The leader said in a conversational tone, Kakashi looked at the man with a critical eye, "Belien Sukarie… Vulture of the Sand, if I'm not mistaken, you are wanted for killing your squad mates and picking them clean of all of their valuables." Kakashi said, the man laughed, "yes it's true, every one of them carried something valuable on them and I wanted it plain and simple, I took the mine because I wanted it, and I took those hostages because I wanted it, now I want to destroy this town and I will get what I want." Belien said with a mad grin, Belien was a man with of average height with a large stocky build; he wore his Sand village flak jacket and a blue long sleeved turtle neck under it. He also wore long black pants and black sandals; his slashed forehead protector was worn on his forehead.

Kakashi got into a taijutsu stance, "I'm sorry to say but you won't get what you want." Belien was confused by this, "what are y-"but he was cut off by a series of explosions and screams of horror and pain in the distance. "Damn you! Do you have any Idea how long it took to discipline those ingrates!?" Belien yelled, Kakashi shrugged, "Should have trained them better, not my fault that they fell for a simple ambush."

Belien growled at Kakashi, he then made a series of hand signs, "Earth Style: Fists of stone!" He cried, his fists then were incased in a mold of stone, he then leapt at Kakashi who dodged his attacks. All Kakashi could do at the moment was dodge the stone firsts, if he attempted to block then his arms would most assuredly be broken. Belien threw another punch but when he did so he exposed his right side, Kakashi capitalized on that and sent a hard kick with his left foot at the man, Belien was more of a brawler, he got his rank and reputation by using overwhelming force to compensated for his lack of mobility, which is why Kakashi was able to capitalize so much on his exposed side.

Once Kakashi's foot connected with Belien's ribcage he was put off balance and Kakashi was able to send a punch towards his face however Belien recovered in time and punched Kakashi in the chest with his left fist. The force of the impact sent Kakashi flying down the street, Belien then followed it up by jumping into the air to plant kick on Kakashi's prone form. _"This guy… he's almost on par with Tsunade-Sama with his raw power." _Thought Kakashi, Belien was disappointed however when he did not here the satisfying crack of his enemies' bones breaking. Belien looked down to see the ground was empty and his opponent was nowhere to be seen, but soon the air was filled with sounds of chirping birds he looked back to see Kakashi running at him with a fist full of lightning, "Chidori!"Kakashi cried.

Belien heard of the Chidori but he had never seen it before, his knowledge of the jutsu was limited but what he did know was that it was a lightning based attack and Belien had a wind affinity. "Wind style: great breakthrough!" Yelled Belien, Kakashi was sent flying and his focus on the Chidori broke, Kakashi landed hard on the ground his head hit the paved road and he most assuredly had a concussion, he made to pull up his headband to exposed his eye but his opponent took advantage of his stunned state and was already upon him. Belien then rushed towards Kakashi. "Earth style: Earth absorption prison!" Belien bellowed, Kakashi could not move in time he was then surrounded by a dome of earth, he attempted to form another Chidori but the chakra in his hands was immediate absorbed into the stone further strengthening both the prison and its creator. _"He's absorbing my chakra at an incredibly fast rate! I'm a sitting duck!" _Kakashi thought in panic.

"Hahaha, yes now the great Kakashi of the Sharingan will fall this night because I want it!"

* * *

Meanwhile Naruto had felt a chakra spike coming from the center of town, _"these two aren't ready to face a jounin level opponent… we need to split up so I can help Kakashi so Sakura and Saskue can be safe." _Naruto thought, "guys we should split up to find Kakashi-sensei, you two go into the mines while I check around the mountain." Naruto suggested, Saskue could find no complaint and Sakura was just happy to be able to do something with Saskue.

Naruto left his teammates, he headed into the woods as to avoid suspicion, once he saw the two enter the mines he rushed towards were he felt the chakra spike.

Naruto came upon a scene with the man matching the description of the leader of the bandits laughing manically while touching a dome of rock with his left hand.

"_Kakashi-sensei must be in there!"_ Naruto began to panic from within but on the outside he appeared to be calm and collected.

"O what's this? A brave little brat has come to save his sensei eh?" Belien taunted, Naruto now being able to get a proper look at the man who stood ahead of him could now recognize him, in one of their talks the Hokage had shown him the most recently updated bingo book, Naruto having and eidetic memory from his Rinnegan was able to memorize every face and name in the book.

"Belien Sukarie… thank God I mistook you for someone dangerous!" Naruto taunted, Belien seethed at his taunt but did not fall for it. "What would you Know of danger you little brat!" Belien then raised his free hand and molded wind chakra to send a torrent of wind towards Naruto, _"hmm I wonder," _Naruto thought, Naruto did not even move he simply activated his Rinnegan and held out his right hand.

The roaring winds barreled their way through the streets picking up chunks of the paved road towards Naruto, but as soon as they reached him the winds died down and thick cloud of dust picked up by the winds surrounded Naruto. "Ha, not so tuff now are you runt!" Belien Yelled, However his joy was turned to surprise once he saw Naruto emerge from the cloud of dust with his Rinnegan ablaze, "What do you know of danger fool!" Naruto mocked, Belien's surprise turned into shock once he saw the haunting eyes of the Rinnegan, "h…how" was all Belien could manage, Naruto just gave him a wide grin, "It matters not, now all you have to worry about is the fact that these are your last moment alive, I cannot have you go running around telling everyone of my Rinnegan now can I?" Naruto said, Belien growled in frustration and sent and onslaught of wind and earth jutsu towards Naruto. Naruto's grin spread further as he slowly walked towards his target all the while absorbing all the chakra from the attacks.

Once Naruto was at arm's length from Belien he increased Belien's center of gravity tenfold forcing him into a bowed position, "w…why are you doing this?" Belien asked he was not asking why he was fighting him or even why he was losing, no he was asking him a more general question as in why are you even fighting to begin with. Somehow Naruto knew this and he obliged, "why you ask? Hmm I guess you could say…because I want to!" Naruto stated unknowingly throwing Belien's own words in his face, Belien looked up in horror, he knew what came next after those words but hearing them come from someone other than himself terrified him. Naruto then broke every bone in Belien's body instantly with his gravity manipulation, when Belien's hand that was still holding onto the earth prison fell to the floor; the prison fell to reveal a panting Kakashi. Naruto deactivated his Rinnegan before Kakashi could see. "Kakashi-sensei are you alright?" Naruto asked worryingly, Kakashi gave him a weak nod, "where's Beli…" but he trailed off when his eye saw the broken corps next to him. "N…Naruto, d…did you do this?" Kakashi asked dumbfounded, Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "uhhh yeah he had you trapped in there so I had to save you." Naruto said.

Kakashi nodded dumbly, "alright we need to get to the others" Kakashi said, Naruto smiled at him, "alright follow me!" yelled Naruto.

* * *

Meanwhile Saskue and Sakura were in the mines freeing the prisoners, "That's the last of em," said Sakura, Saskue just grunted, "we need to find the boss," Saskue said, Sakura nodded and they both went down a corridor, they walked for a few minutes when they came upon a large room filled with gold. "Wow" Sakura said, Saskue was also in aww of the immense mountains of gold so much so in fact that he subconsciously took a few steps into the room. Sakura noticed the wire but could not call out in time.

Saskue accidently broke the trip wire and soon a giant explosion was set off within the room full of gold. Both genin were blasted back from the explosion, the corridor was filled with dust, both Saskue and Sakura were coughing from the dust in the air, Saskue was relatively unhurt but Sakura had shrapnel in her leg and was bleeding from her left leg. However the two genin were barley given any time to recover when the whole mine began to shake, "Its caving in!" yelled Sakura, "we have to get out of here!" yelled Saskue, Sakura and Saskue began to run down the corridor, they made it to the main cave when Sakura collapsed from the pain in her leg, Saskue turned to see her struggling to get up "go on, I'm too weak I'm not worth saving!" yelled Sakura. Saskue just ran towards Sakura and picked her up "shut up with that crap I'm not losing anyone else!" Yelled Saskue, Saskue ran up the walk way towards the exit, he dodged and ducked through falling rocks and wooden beams that was supposed to help stop this sort of thing, he was closer now to the exit when a large rock fell right behind him and Sakura forcing Saskue to dive out of the exit.

Both were on the ground, Saskue was panting and Sakura was beginning to pass out from blood loss, Saskue stood sat up and looked Sakura in the eyes, "Sakura are you okay?" Saskue asked showing rare concern on his face.

Sakura barely heard the words but what she did register was Saskue's eyes, Sakura's vision was beginning to blacken but despite the blackness Saskue's eyes sill pierced it. The last thing she saw before passing out was two blood red eyes with one tome around the pupil.

**(Well so there you have it, I tried to make the wave mission interesting I probably wrote this chapter four different ways before I decided that anything and everything has been done using that mission so I wanted to try to be a little original, I know it's not the most creative of mission's but it was my first time trying to go off the rails a bit with theses different characters. I also wanted to give Saskue and Sakura some character development. I want to stress that this won't be bashing oriented, I don't really like those types off stories mostly because most people can't do it right and the story suffers because the author feels the need to bash a character needlessly. But at the same time this is not going to be one of those teddy bear stories were everyone like everyone and Naruto befriends everyone in the known world. I wanted to give Sakura her moments in this mission to show that she is not going to be a useless piece of eye candy in this story. I also wanted to give Saskue his moment at the end by saving Sakura and showing a rare moment of genuine concern. Some of you may not like the lack luster battle with my creation Belien but I wanted to get the chapter over with and move onto more important things in the story. Also yes Belien's motives are vague and not really believable but you have to understand that Belien is crazy and crazy people don't always make sense. Well hope you enjoyed, please review I want to hear you beautiful voices in the form of texts on a screen. See ya later!") **


	3. Danger zone

**The Cruse of the Rinnegan**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**Danger zone  
**

Weeks had passed sense there first C-ranked turned A-ranked mission. Team seven was now at their usual meeting place, a comfortable silence lingered between them. Ever sense the mission the tension in the team had let up. Saskue had stopped bothering Naruto as much and Sakura was in the beginning stages of getting out of her fan girl phase. Sense the mission Sakura had cut her hair also her respect for Naruto had increased ever sense he had comforted her after the ambush.

Saskue was pleased that he had awoken his Sharingan, he had tried to reason that the only reason he saved Sakura was because he did not want to deal with the annoying social obligation that he would have to deal with when going to her funeral. But despite himself he could still not help but remember the panic that he felt when he had thought she died when she passed out from blood loss. He felt like he was back at that night during the massacre, how he was so weak and how he could not protect his family. But when Kakashi told him that she was going to be fine, it was only his years of keeping the mask of indifference that kept him from breaking down.

Naruto grew a bit as well, he had once again been reminded not to judge someone too quickly, the look on Saskue's face when he came upon them at the entrance to the mine made him think differently of the brooding Uchiha. Naruto had figured that Saskue was just an ass but he then realized that his brooding and cold nature was his version of the same mask Naruto used.

Naruto also advanced in his Preta path abilities, he had found that the main use for them was to absorb ninjutsu and use the chakra in the jutsu to replenish his own supplies. He had also figured out with the help of the Hokage that he could directly absorb and give chakra to someone by making physical contact with them.

Naruto had to do a lot of 'damage control' as he put it, he has slipped up and shown a bit of his true mental capacity during the mission he knew that Kakashi was now suspicious of him due to the fact that he took down a jounin with seemingly little effort on his part. But Naruto was quick to try to make up for his little slip up by acting like a fool even more than usual.

Why was Naruto trying to hide his true potential from the people he was supposed to trust with his life you may ask? Well the reason is that a the day after his return from the gold mine mission the Hokage had told him that there is going to be the up incoming chunin exams and with the faith that Kakashi seems to be putting in his squad then it would lead to little doubt that he and his team would be recommended by their sensei.

Naruto studied up on the chunin exams and quickly deduced that there would be a chance that he would need to fight his teammates in order to become promoted to chunin, he liked his teammates well enough in fact he would be the first to admit that he was attracted to Sakura but he himself doubted at what level. He also nursed a health rivalry with his Uchiha teammate although he let Saskue believe that it was one sided.

But if he had to fight them in order to be one-step closer to becoming Hokage then he would do it in a heartbeat.

Also after the gold mine mission Naruto has been pushing himself for the chunin exams, he upped his training and has even taken to gravity seals instead of those annoying and bulky metal weights, the Hokage had also had given him a chakra paper so he could start his elemental training and to both of their surprise it turns out that Naruto as all five elemental affinities. Thankfully Naruto found out the benefits of mass shadow clone training so for the last week Naruto had practiced with five hundred shadow clones, one hundred for each element and had been working on the manipulation of each element. Thanks to his better understanding of chakra due to his Preta path he got all of the first steps to his training done in just under a week.

It was then that Kakashi decided to appear, Sakura yelled at him once he did. "You're late again!" She screamed, Kakashi gave her an eye smile, "A Hatake is never late nor is he early… he arrives precisely when he means to." Explained Kakashi, Sakura scowled at him, Saskue gave a "hn", and Naruto was appreciating reference affectively breaking the forth wall.

"Well anyway I have a good excuse this time… I actually recommended you all for the chunin exams just signed these forms and turn them in at the academy by the end of the week." Kakashi said while handing his team the papers.

Naruto and Saskue quickly signed, Sakura was hesitant but then she remembered that she was a kunoichi of the Leaf, after they all signed Kakashi told them that because the exams would be hard than they should work on their speed and strength for the rest of the day so the three genin went about doing there exercises for the rest of the day.

Naruto was tired he and his team had worked hard all day in training, Sakura who was still not used to taking her job seriously was even more so. Seeing this Naruto decided to be a good friend and offer to walk Sakura home so that he could be there in case she collapsed from exhaustion.

"Hey Sakura do you want me to walk you home? I know that you can handle yourself but even I have been known to collapse in the street from exhaustion." Naruto offered, Sakura was taken aback, she was used to Naruto pestering her to ask her out but the way he offered to walk her home just now seemed out of genuine concern for her. She looked over to see if Saskue would do the same but she saw that he was already gone.

"Okay…but this is not a date!" Sakura growled, Naruto just put up his hands innocently, "hey just wanting to help out a friend." Naruto explained

* * *

They both were walking down a street when Naruto felt the familiar chakra signatures of his three fan club members. "Great here we go again" Naruto whispered, Sakura heard what he said and raised her eyebrow in confusion, "konohamaru you're not fooling anyone" Naruto said to a very conspicuous box behind him and Sakura.

The box behind them then went up in smoke to reveal three young kids a few years younger than Sakura and Naruto, "ahh you are truly a master at detection, I would expect nothing less from my rival!" Exclaimed Konohamaru, Naruto rolled his eyes at his so called 'rival' he honestly did not know why he would think such a thing, all he did was explain that being Hokage was about protecting the village rather than being just a title that garnered respect.

"Naruto would you like to play ninja with us?" asked the only female member of his fan club

Naruto gave them a warm smile, he honestly envied there innocents, he never really had much innocents ever sense he awakened the Rinnegan he has become a deep thinker and often pondered philosophical questions that probably should not be pondered by a twelve year old kid.

But before Naruto gave an answer Konohamaru spoke up. "Hey Naruto is this your girl friend?" He asked giving him a wink. Sakura turned red, half from embarrassment and half from anger. "No Konohamaru she's my teammate," Naruto clarified, now Konohamaru being Konohamaru with his innocence began to say the forbidden words when it came to Naruto pink haired co worker, " I got to say you really dodged a bullet there, just look at her forehead!"Sakura turned red from slight embarrassment to pure anger, her exhaustion now forgotten in favor of beating this rude little boy, "why you little!" Sakura began rushing at him, Konohamaru began to bolt down the street, Sakura chased after him while Naruto sighed, "I guess I better save him." Naruto said.

* * *

He then ran after the two, Naruto turned a corner to find Konohamaru being lifted by his collar by a guy in a strange black jumpsuit. "Hey you better apologies kid!" The guy said, "Let me go!" Konohamaru demanded, "Kankuro just put the kid down we don't have time for this." A blonde haired girl with four pig tails sporting a Sand village headband said. "No this kid needs to learn some manner Temari!" Retorted Kankuro, the sand ninja raised his fist ready to hit him but he stopped when he heard a young yet authoritative voice.

Naruto who was seeing all of this transpire quickly walked past Sakura who was about to step up until she saw Naruto step in front of her, "Stop." Naruto demanded in the most authoritative voice his young vocal cords allowed.

Kankuro scoffed at the blonde haired runt in front of him, "get lost little kid!" Yelled Kankuro, Naruto gave him a death glare and leaked a considerable amount of killer intent. "You will put down the grandson of the Hokage or I will be forced to uses less than friendly means." Demanded Naruto, Everyone in the street felt the oppressive amount of killer intent; Naruto had to tone it down least he accidently kill Konohamaru from the sheer pressure.

"_T...this presence it feels just like Gaara, but worse,"_ thought Temari, Kankuro begins to sweet bullets and slowly puts Konohamaru down, he then backs away slowly, "n…no problems here man." Stutters Kankuro.

"Good… now tell the other one to get out of the tree." Naruto said without taking his eyes off of Temari and Kankuro. Both sand siblings were wide eyed as they saw their little brother appear in a swirl of sand in-between them and the dangerous blond.

The read headed figure of Gaara appeared in the side street, he then turns towards his siblings, "Kankuro you are a disgrace to our village, " Gaara said, "B…but Gaara" Kankuro stammered, "shut up…or I'll kill you."

In an underground rebel bunker in the Land of Water a busty redhead was giving a speech to raise moral of the rebel army when she suddenly sneezed and accidently sent a bit of lava to burn the a hole in the wall. _"I hope that was my future husband talking about me." _Thought the redheaded woman dreamily.

In a span of a few seconds Naruto's mind was racing as he analyzed the three sand ninja in front of him. _"Sand kunoichi, her comrade referred to her as Temari, not very athletic looking for ninja with strong taijutsu standards judging by her build but not hopelessly skinny like Sakura, I caught a glimpse of a war fan on her back, wind style user who specializes in long rang tactics, assumed to be mainly ninjutsu with low taijutsu, genjutsu is also a possibly, preferred mode of engagement, fire based attacks up front with shadow clones to engage in taijutsu on the flanks and behind."_

Naruto deduced, Naruto then turned his eyes towards Kankuro in the same instant, _"Another sand shinobi both of his comrades referred to him a Kankuro, most of his physic is covered by that abomination he calls cloths, brash attitude and prone to violence, I read somewhere about the war puppets of the sand so I can only assume that the large wrapping on his back marks him as a puppeteer, so that also makes him a longer ranged specialist who probably realize on his puppets to do the fighting, if hypothesis on him being a puppeteer proves true than most jutsu will probably be little to nonexistent in his arsenal, his control is probably on par if not better than Sakura's, also he may have hidden poison in his arsenal like many puppeteers use but it is of no consequence because the Kyuubi would heal them, preferred mode of engagement, taunt first to intense into a blind rage, then overwhelm with large number of shadow clones."_

Naruto deduced just as quickly, his eyes then falls on the shorter one in the group, _"this sand shinboi however is very different his comrade referred to him as Gaara, his eyes suggest a very severe case of insomnia, his body language much like the other two moments ago suggests confidence but not arrogance in the same way with his comrades, his chakra however… it feels chaotic but familiar, not as vast as my own but still very large, I can feel the presence of something within him, he has a feeling of blood and death around him as well. His chakra it feels similar to my own, normal mixed with ….demonic? Yes that's it, this one must be a jinchuuriki, judging from his nationality and from what the old man told me of what he knows of the other bijuu, and he must be the one tailed raccoon's container. From the bad vibes I get from him could only mean that he is prone to the beasts influence, this suggests that he either has a bad seal or he is willing to give into influence easily, but I like to think that us jinchuuriki have stronger will than that so I am inclined to believe the former. His arms and legs are almost as skinny as Sakura's so taijutsu is unlikely to be expected from him, this suggests either a genjutsu or ninjutsu specialty, genjutsu can be ruled out from what I understand us jinchuuriki all have large reserves so it would make genjutsu impractical for any of us. So this would suggest long ranged ninjutsu, of what element is to be determined, but I highly suspect wind and whatever chakra infused substance is in his gourd that I can feel, preferred mode of engagement, send clones to get a feel for his style, once abilities are revealed than adjust to the situation." _

In the span of a few seconds Naruto quickly deduced the information that he could garner from visual deduction.

While Naruto was doing this Gaara could hear his bijuu whisper to him that he feels a great power from the boy in front of him and that he wants his blood.

Gaara then leaks out some of his killer intent towards the blond and orange boy in front of him **(AN: yes I feel bad for not making it clear but Naruto still looks the same as he does canon for now.) **Gaara keeps his eyes on the boy so he can test his reaction to his killer intent, if he is weak than he would cower in fear but if he is not… than he would feed his mother blood.

Naruto feels the killer intent coming off of Gaara, _"this is bad I don't want Konohamaru exposed to this level of intent yet, I got to get Sakura out of here as well least Gaara senses that I am also jinchuuriki and he spills it." _Naruto surmised.

Naruto calmly turns his head behind him towards Sakura and smiles, "Sakura, why don't you take Konohamaru and show him and his friends some chakra control exercises." Naruto said, Sakura who was trembling under the intent, with her eyes never leaving Gaara's form, she slowly nods and motions for Konohamaru to follow her who gladly takes the excuse to leave. Both of them leave Naruto with the freighting boy.

Naruto locks eyes with Gaara, all the while still feeling the killer intent that has no affect on him. Naruto then sends his own stronger killer intent towards the red head.

"Tell that foolish raccoon that if he tries anything in my village than I will show him no mercy." Naruto said in a very cold and serious voice, Kankuro and Temari were taken aback by this while Gaara didn't show signs of his surprise.

"How do you know of mother?" Gaara asked, Naruto who was still keeping a stern expression keeps his eyes on Gaara, "I have my ways Gaara, but know this, if you any of you go outside of the parameters of the chunin exams which I can only assume that you are all here for, and kill or hurt anyone in this village who is affiliated to my village than I can and will kill you." Naruto declared while kicking up the killer intent to get his point across.

Both Kankuro and Tamari where silent, not trusting their own voices so they simply nodded their understanding.

Gaara however looked stoic as ever and began to throw in more killer intent to the oppressive mixing pot of the KI pissing contest.

Naruto keeps up his killer intent and steps closer to Gaara who unconsciously takes a step back, Naruto sees this and smirks. "I win," Naruto jokes, Naruto then lessens his KI and chuckles at the scared faces of Temari and Kankuro.

"You are interesting…" Gaara trails off, Naruto smiles and extends a hand towards Gaara, Gaara this time was taken aback by this, never before has anyone smiled at him and this smile seems to actually be a real true smile. Gaara just looks at his hand and doesn't extend his own.

Naruto keeps his smile and puts his hand down, "Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto introduced, Gaara nods his head, "you are interesting Naruto Uzumaki, mother tells me that you are powerful, I hope to see you in the exams," Gaara said, and without another word he disappears in a swirl of sand. His two comrades just back out of the side street and follow Gaara.

* * *

For the rest of the week leading up to the start of the exams Naruto was pushing himself harder than ever before, Naruto had kept his elemental training a secret so only he and the Hokage knows of his five affinities due to the fact that both agree that his five elemental affinities are most likely a byproduct of having the Rinnegan.

So the Hokage had given him some elemental ninjutsu to work with, Naruto however only took them so that he could better understand the elements, Naruto found that he loves making new ninjutsu or modifications to an already existing ninjutsu so most if not all of the elemental ninjutsu in his arsenal are either personal creations or modifications to a elemental ninjutsu. So with hard work and a horde of shadow clones he had devised at least two jutsu for each element so he could use them in the chunin exams.

Now it is the day of the start of the exams Naruto had meet up with his teammates just outside of the academy entrance, Sakura understandably looked nervous, Saskue looked confident almost to the point of arrogance, and Naruto had his mask on in full force. "Hey Sakura-chan," dobe Naruto said, Sakura did not pay attention to Naruto and just made to attempt to converse with Saskue.

Saskue was ignoring them both, they were about to walk in when Saskue stopped in the door way, "what's wrong Saskue?" Asked Sakura, "I thinks it's best if we take the back entrance that way we don't have to deal with a crowed," Saskue explained, Sakura nodded in agreement, _"wow did he actually suggest that we act like ninja and not go strutting in and causing everyone to look at us?" _Naruto asked himself. "Huh alright," Naruto said.

They all made their way to the back entrance to find the stairs; they made it to the second floor where they saw a crowed down the hall trying to get into a room that was obviously a genjutsu diversion. "See what I mean," Saskue said whilst pointing at the crowd.

They made to the proper room to find Kakashi reading his book and leaning lazily on the wall. "O so you three made it, well good luck and remember to look underneath the underneath." Kakashi advised his genin team all nodded one with determination, one with an arrogant smirk, and one with a weak and nervous smile.

* * *

The room was still mostly empty the only teams that were in the room were the Sand team that Sakura and Naruto ran into earlier in the week, a team from the Grass village, a team from the new Sound village, and a few teams from rain and waterfall.

Naruto and his team sat together on the left side of the room at the front, Saskue nearest the window for optimal brooding comfort, Sakura in the middle to act as a buffer for the two rivals and to be near her Saskue-kun, and Naruto on the outside so he could keep a better eye on Gaara.

It was about half an hour later and the room was now full of excited and nervous genin all ready to face the challenges ahead.

It was then when the doors to the aback of the room closed and a poof of smoke erupted from the head of the room, emerging from the smoke was one Ibiki Morino. "I am head of Torture and Interrogation department Ibiki Marino from now on you will speak when spoken to and the first and last words to come out of your filthy sewers will be 'sir' do you maggots understand!" Ibiki yelled, the class was stunned from the volume of his voice, a few in the class murmured, "sir yes sir," Ibiki did not look pleased with the reaction, "bullshit I can't here you, sound off like you got a pair!" Yelled Ibiki again, "sir yes sir!" The entire class repeated.

"Now that I have your attention, welcome to the first test of the chunin exams, now some of you may have heard that this is going to be a written test for the first exams." Ibiki began, he looked to see a few nodes from the crowed, "I am here to tell you that written exams are for pussies that are unoriginal and boring as hell!" Ibiki yelled the crowed looked confused and a bit more nervous now.

"For this test I will choose from among your team to act as team leader, when I call your team you will be escorted by one of the chunin here and they will tell you of whom I have selected to be in your team, they will then tell you what to do from there." Ibiki explained.

Sakura and Saskue had two similar reactions to this news, _"no doubt he would pick me, I am an elite Uchiha." _Saskue thought smugly, _"he's totally goanna pick Saskue-kun, he's just the leader type!" _Sakura said to herself.

Naruto kept his mask of idiocy on and acted confused while on the inside he was searching for hidden motives and meaning to this test.

It had been five minutes of waiting, each team was called and the team would leave the room to not return. The tension in the room was building up and many of the genin were feeling it.

"Team seven of the Leaf Village!" Yelled Ibiki, the members of team seven were jolted to their feet, they followed a chunin who happened to be one of the eternal gate keepers, Izumo.

They walked down a hallway in silence, Izumo opened a door to let the genin in, he turned to them once they entered a small empty class room.

"Alright you three listen up, I am here to tell you who your team leader was selected to be and your objective of this exam." Izumo said all three genin stayed silent.

"Your team leader is going to be Naruto Uzumaki." Izumo began, both Sakura and Saskue yelled "what?!" Izumo made no indication that he heard them, "Now Naruto follow me and I will tell you your objective of this exam." Izumo said, just had Izumo was about to lead Naruto out of the room to talk to him in the hall way he was stopped when he heard Sakura yell, "why does he get to be team leader and not Saskue-kun, he's just goanna get us killed!" Naruto rolled his eyes at them, "do you forget our first mission already?" Naruto asked, when he said that Sakura looked hung her head in shame, she did remember the mission and she remembered when Naruto was the only one at the time who comforted her when she had killed those people in the ambush, she was making good progress and had been working harder but there were still time such as this time were her inner fan girl would surface and cloud her judgment.

Saskue stayed quiet, he would not admit this to anyone but on the inside he was a little, just a little bit impressed of the dobe to come up with all of those strategies during their mission. It was this that caused Saskue start to have his suspicions that Naruto was hiding something, he was fully aware now thanks to training with Kakashi, a ninja who prided himself in looking underneath the underneath that a ninja's greatest weapon is deception and a ninjas greatest defense is the ability to see through deception. He was still in denial but he had on occasion when Naruto would slip in holding his dobe mask on rare occasions when he would entertain the possibly that Naruto was in fact not an idiot and was pretending to be one for some unknown reason.

Naruto then followed Izumo out of the room into the hall way.

Izumo turned to Naruto, "alright now as team leader I will debrief you on your objective, in the red light district at 232 Oak Boulevard there is a person being held captive and if you do not rescue this person they will die." Izumo said, Naruto paled at the information but then steeled himself and made to go grab his team and save the person but Izumo stopped him, "however," he continued, Naruto looked up at him in confusion. "On the other side of town at the eastern gate there is a scroll with information on it and we also need you to grab that, your objective is to choose, you only have enough time to choose one, either the person or the scroll." Izumo said.

Naruto once again paled at the information, his mind already working out a way to do both, _"well I could just use shadow clones to save both."_ Naruto reasoned, _"but they most likely know that already, they would not give me a choice if they just know I have the ability to not have to choose… there as to be a reason to this." _Naruto walked into the room still in deep thought. Izumo followed him in, "o yeah that reminds me." Izumo spoke up getting the attention of team seven; Izumo then brought out three little pieces of paper and stuck it on the arms of the genin.

It happened all at once, a feeling of weakness ran all throughout their bodies, "what did you do?" Sakura asked Izumo smirked at them, "for this test you aren't allowed to use chakra." All the genin went wide eyed at that.

"_Shit well there goes that Idea." _Naruto thought, Izumo began to walk out the door and said without looking back, "your test starts as I leave the room you only have ten minutes to finish your objective, good luck." Izumo said, as he closed the door.

Sakura and Sakura turned to Naruto, Naruto made his way to the door, "I'll explain on the way we need to go." Naruto said both of his teammates reluctantly followed suit.

* * *

Naruto and his team were running down the street, "we have to choose between two objective," Naruto began as they were running towards a fork in the road, one road lead to the red light district and another lead towards the eastern gate. Naruto stopped at the fork and turned towards his teammates. "We have to choose between saving a person who is held captive in the red light district or a scroll at the eastern gate." Naruto explained Sakura spoke up first, "who cares about a scroll if someone needs help than we have to go for them!" Sakura yelled Saskue scoffed at her, "we don't know what's on the scroll it could be important information." Saskue reasoned Naruto looked to his two teammates he could easily see that Sakura was just as conflicted as he was, he wanted to save the person but at the same time the scroll could have important information pertaining to the safety of the village.

"_Although he did not say that this information was important just that it was in fact information, information could mean anything but is it worth it at the cost of someone's life even if I do now know this person? Do I choose what could be unimportant information to save someone's life, or do I choose the person and let what could very well be important information go?" _ Naruto thought.

It was then when Naruto spoke up, "we can't split up because the person will most likely be guarded and will be expecting us so we will need back up. So we need to all do this and choose." Naruto said, Sakura was still apprehensive and Saskue was leaning towards the road that lead to the eastern gate, Naruto sighed, _"a part of this test is to test our judgment skills and my leadership skills, my team is indecisive so it is up to me to make the final say."_ Naruto surmised, Naruto sighed again and made his decision.

"We go for the scroll." Naruto announced, and without looking back he ran towards the eastern gate.

Team seven could not use chakra so therefore they could not hop across roof tops that they would normally do.

They were weaving through crowds of people, bumping into pedestrians and leaping over carts. They ran at top speeds, Naruto of course could absorb the charka in the seal that sealed off his chakra and just make shadow clones like he normally would have to save both objectives. But that would just be too troublesome to explain and he also felt like it would be cheating.

Team seven was not too sure how much time they had left but they guessed that they were cutting it way too close.

All members of team seven were breathing heavy by the time they had the eastern gate in their sights. They ran towards the gate now on their last leg before they would all pass out from exhaustion, Naruto looked around for the scroll but could not find it. That was until a gate guard spoke up. "Are you team seven?" Asked the guard, Naruto turned towards the guard and nodded while still breathing heavily.

The gate guard tossed him a scroll. "Here you go then." The gate guard said Saskue and Sakura crowded around Naruto, both were curious as to what the scroll said. Naruto opened the scroll; on the scroll were the words, 'training ground 44'.

Naruto and his team gave a sigh of relief. "So that's were our next test it I guess." Sakura said, both of her teammates nodded, they all promptly collapsed on the ground to catch their breath.

* * *

Later that day team seven arrived outside of the forest of death, they arrived to see the eleven other leaf genin plus Kabuto's team, along with the sand siblings, a few rain and grass ninja, and some cloud ninja as well.

Team seven made their way to the only familiar faces they could find, there graduating class.

"Oi, look who made it Akamaru," Kiba said, Akamaru gave a happy yip once he saw Naruto, unlike his human companion he was not blind, he could sense the power emanating from the blond human who smells of foxes, but for some reason he did not act like an alpha should. He did not mate with all the females, he did not fight once questioned, and he did not get the respect that an alpha should. Akamaru had questioned this at one time to Kiba but his friend thought he was making a joke.

Naruto noticed Kiba and gave a wave, "hey Akamaru!" Naruto yelled blatantly ignoring Kiba, Kiba gave an annoyed growl who was not pleased at being ignored, Akamaru yipped excitedly at the alpha male, Akamaru like any dog wanted to please the alpha male so he jumped from his perch atop Kiba's head and scampered off towards the fox smelling human.

"Hey where you going?!" yelled Kiba as he followed his canine companion.

Naruto saw Akamaru and crouched down to greet him, Naruto ruffled Akamaru's fur on his head, "hey Akamaru you keeping Kiba on a tight leash I hope," Naruto joked, Kiba huffed in annoyance, for some reason Akamaru liked Naruto, his mother told him one time to stay away from him for some reason and he did, but at the beginning of the last year at the academy Akamaru seemed to notice something about Naruto that he did not and Akamaru began to be friendly with the loud brash boy. Kiba being Akamaru's best friend wondered why, he questioned Akamaru about this and Akamaru just told him that he just thought it best to stay on his good side and also he was a pretty good guy. Kiba trusts Akamaru's judgment so he had decided to be friendly with the blond as well. Of course he had talked to him before and was on a neutral terms with him but never attempted to be real friends with him.

Kiba found out that he like Naruto and he and Akamaru would hang out sometimes with him, why his mom told him to stay away from him he would never know.

Kiba and Naruto were catching up when suddenly a large billow of smoke appeared in front of the crowd of genin; when the smoke cleared a woman know too many as one of the most eccentric ninja the leaf had ever produced, one Anko Mitarashi in all her dango eating glory.

Anko looked over at the genin, she noted that it was more than she accepted to pass the first test, "Hmmm seems like Ibiki is losing his touch," Anko said to herself out load, Anko took out a kunai and began to twirl it in her fingers, while she kept the dango stick in her mouth, "aright kiddies listing up, I am the single and sexy Anko Mitarashi you can look but you can't touch," Anko said with a cheeky grin.

Naruto who has spent many times with the Hokage had met this woman before, she would usually be the only person in the village that he knew of who refused to use the door when she would meet with the Hokage. The one time he did met her was… let's just say an interesting experience.

* * *

**Flash back **

Naruto was in the Hokage's office, it was a few weeks after his graduation and Naruto had come to the Hokage for his weekly visit. The old man was happy to let Naruto visit with him when he could, thanks to his advanced brain functions they have been able to have deep conversations that someone of his age would not bother to have. They still joked around and would banter but they also had their deeper more serious moment, right now was not one of those deep moments however. They were actually just having light conversation; Naruto would tell him about his training and teammates while the Hokage would listen with a smile on his face.

Suddenly a blur came rushing through the window that the Hokage kept open for this very purpose.

Naruto was taken by surprise by the sudden intruder and immediately took out a kunai and got in a defensive stance to put himself in between the person and his Hokage. The speed in which Naruto readied himself took the Hokage by surprise, he knew Naruto was no average genin but sometimes he still surprised him with his skills.

"Anko," Sarutobi said with a sigh, the person now identified as Anko completely ignored her superior for her attention was drawn by what appeared to be a fresh genin performed a practiced defensive stance with kunai drawn with the skill and speed well beyond his rank.

Anko continued to eye Naruto's stance, she could see a few flaws in it but the was probably due to the fact that he was cramped in between two chairs and he had yet to get the proper experience it took to develop the instincts necessary to pull it off without any flaw.

The look in his eyes also drew her attention, when most genin would look nervous or startled at one of her sudden appearances he looked calm and determined to do what was necessary. Her analysis of Naruto only took a second once she was done her face dawned a smirk. "Put the kunai down or you might hurt yourself little boy." Anko said.

While Anko was analyzing him he was doing the same, her attire was obvious to draw male attention, her short skirt and her tight fitting fishnet shirt proved this, her trench coat also added to her flashy nature due to the fact that it doubled as a cape once the wind from the opened window caught it.

Naruto looked at her smirking face, but it was not her beautiful face that currently had his attention, it was her eyes, Naruto who had worn a mask to hide his emotions most of his life and was somewhat of an expert at recognizing many different metaphorical masks that people ware. He could see right through it, this woman in front of her was hiding her pain. His analysis of Anko ended right as she first spoke to him.

Naruto lowered his stance and put the kunai away but kept his eyes locked on Anko, he was always intrigued when he met someone who also hid their pain behind a mask.  
"There now we wouldn't want to let the little boy hurt himself now would we?" Anko teased, she loved getting a rise out of people and fresh genin was always fun to tease when you attempted to wound their pride.

Naruto saw the ploy she was using he decided not to fall for her game but instead play along in his own way. Naruto smirked at her, "O well thank you for your concern, it's always nice to see a fellow shinobi be so selfless to her comrades even if she does not know who they are." Naruto said Anko raised her eyebrow at his statement; she was a little disappointed that she could not get a rise out of the little blond kid but her disappointment soon turned to intrigue.

Anko lowered her head to eyes level at Naruto all the while keeping her smirk on her face, "O so the little boy wants to play huh?" Anko asked in a near whisper, Naruto taken aback a bit by the closeness of the strange woman soon recovered and gave a chuckle, "well that what little boys tend to do now don't we?" Naruto asked in the same near whisper that she asked her question.

Anko and Naruto continued to stare at each other for a few moments, neither moving or talking, Anko looked into Naruto's eyes and could see that she would not win this little teasing game for she had a report to give.

She snorted at the blond kid, "You're a funny little brat I'll give you that, but I got big kid stuff to do so run along," She attempted to prod him one last time, Naruto gave a mock pout, "aww and here I thought we had something," Naruto joked, making Anko laugh, "ha, a bit young for me don't you think kid?" Anko asked, Naruto just gave a shrug, "your loss," Naruto said as he walked out the door.

**Flash back End**

* * *

When Naruto met her that one time he was actually intrigued by the woman, it was a relief to him to actually find someone in this village who seemed to be not a very serious person, yeah Kakashi was lazy but he was his teacher and he naturally had an air of seriousness about him when he spoke of things of importance, but Anko was similar to him with her love of pranks, o sure it was not really as elaborate as he once made them or as flashy. Her pranks were more subtle the way she teased people and made them uncomfortable was her version of pranking people.

When Anko's eyes landed on the familiar looking blond her cheeky grin widened, she then without warning threw the kunai she had been twirling in her hands.

Naruto saw the projectile and on instinct moved his head out of the flight path and caught it with his right hand. Naruto then began to twirl the kunai in a similar fashion of Anko, "looks like you dropped this Anko-_chan_," Naruto said while stressing the chan suffix.

Anko then appeared behind Naruto with another kunai and slashed at him, Naruto who had sensed her nearly avoided decapitation and got a small cut on his cheek.

Anko looked at Naruto with a smirk while licking the bloody kunai, "take that as a warning whisker." Anko said Naruto gave a mock hurt look, "after everything we've been through Anko how could you?" Naruto teased, Anko was liking this kid more by the minute, normally people would be disgusted or afraid of her teasing, most genin would be wetting themselves in fear or be beat red with embarrassment but this kid took it in stride and was actually doing some teasing of his own.

Anko did not respond and just continued to creepily stare at him whilst liking his blood on the kunai.

At this point most of the genin backed away from the two, the Leaf genin were all wondering just how the hell does Naruto know there creepy proctor and why does he not notice that this woman is indeed creepy.

Naruto smirked at Anko, "careful Anko if you drink too much of my blood then you'll get chakra poisoning." Naruto said in a warning tone, that statement was actually true, due to Naruto being a jinchuuriki the trace amount of chakra that is found in his blood would kill someone if he attempted to give someone a blood transfusion with his own blood or if they ingested too much of it.

Anko smirked at him, "aww is little whiskers concerned for my wellbeing?" Anko asked in a voice that one would use on a small puppy, "ill have you know that the ladies love my whiskers." Naruto retorted, Anko chuckled at him, "O and that's why you a have soooo many girlfriends?" Anko mocked, Naruto waved her off, "yeah, yeah, now let's get on with it so we can all kill each other in the forest."

Anko gave a mock pout, "you ruin all the fun sometime whiskers."

While all that was going on the other chunin that had arrived with Anko just stood there stunned. "How is that kid even alive right now, anyone who would dare add chan to her name would probably be skinned alive right now," whispered a chunin to his comrade.

Naruto then made his way to his team who were progressively backing away from the strange woman and there teammate during their banter, when Naruto made his way to his teammates he saw their looks of confusion, "what?" Naruto asked Saskue just shook his head at him, while Sakura still had a confused look on her face, "how do you know that creepy woman?" Sakura asked, Naruto shrugged at her, "I don't really we only met once in the old man's office, she seemed pretty fun." Naruto explained, this did nothing to quell his teammates confusion, "but you two just acted like you have know each other for a long time." Sakura said Naruto shrugged again, "eh she likes to tease people and make them uncomfortable I guess it's a more subtle form of pranking and you know me I love a good prank." Naruto reasoned with a half truth.

It was then when Anko brought all the genin's attention to herself, "Listen up! This here is training ground 44 also known as the forest of death," Anko said ominously getting a few scared looks form some of the more cowardly genin.

"Now before we get started I will have you know that chances are you will die in this test so before we allow you to go any farther in this exam you will need to sign these wavers so that your villages can't turn around and sue us because you dumb ass got yourself killed."

Anko's two chunin aids handed the wavers out to the genin and all quickly signed once that was done Anko then cleared her throat, "now for this test you will all be spending a week in this forest, your objective is simple, survive." Anko said some of the genin looked relived thinking that it would be a simple survival test. "However," Anko continued.

"You are all authorized to take any steps necessary for you teams survival that means you may kill anyone you see fit just as long as they are not your own teammates." Anko grinned in a sadistic manner, "Now the rules are that by the end of the week you must make it to the tower in the center of the forest, you will not be able to enter the tower before hand, and to those of you who feel like they can just get away with hiding in some cave somewhere and wait it out I will tell you this now. There is a massive sealing array that surrounds this forest, at the end of each day the sealing array closes in farther into the forest, if you are caught outside of this array then you will notice that you will be unable to move farther into the forest due to the invisible barrier, only myself and a select few others are keyed in to be able to move freely in and out of the array." Anko explained.

The genin were then instructed to go to their assigned gates. Naruto turned to the others on his team, "so how you want to do this?" Naruto asked, Sakura looked thoughtful at this, "hmm… maybe we should make our way towards the tower, we can hollow out one of the larger trees up high and place traps all around near the tower." Sakura advised, Naruto looked impressed; Saskue gave no indication of his emotions but internally agreed. "Sounds good," Naruto said, Sakura was taken aback, "really… none of you disagree?" Sakura asked disbelievingly, Saskue gave a slight shrug and Naruto gave her a wide grin, "yeah let's go for it!" Naruto exclaimed.

* * *

Team seven rushed into the forest as soon as the gates were opened, Saskue in the front, Sakura in the middle, and Naruto in the rear.

The three genin were making good progress, much of the forest was peaceful save for the occasional blood curdling screams of a genin running into an enemy.

It would take the rest of the day to get half way to the tower. It was dark now and Saskue signaled for his teammates to stop, "Its dark… we should rest," Saskue suggested, both teammates acknowledged this.

Naruto landed on a large branch of a very tall an thick tree, he began to channel fire chakra into is hands and pressed them against the tree, the chakra was so hot that instead of burning the tree it melted it, both of Naruto's teammates stared at him, "Naruto what are you doing?" questioned Sakura, Naruto kept at hollowing out the tree, "you suggested that we hollow out trees to serve as a base." Naruto explained Saskue was intrigued by this it was a useful power. "Dobe how are you doing that?" Asked Saskue, Naruto shrugged, "it's pretty easy if you have a good understanding of fire natured chakra, all I am doing is funneling fire natured chakra into my hands and super heating it," Naruto then pulled out one of his hands from the melting tree, his hands were glowing bright white, "I have made the chakra so hot that it has become plasma, that is why the tree is not burning but melting, it takes a lot of concentration and is very dangerous, I can teach it to you after the exams." Naruto offered, he saw no reason not to teach him, yeah sure he can be an arrogant prick but he's still a comrade and if he can use this ability to better serve the Leaf Village there is really no reason not to teach him a thing or two.

Saskue scoffed at him, "as if a dobe like you could teach an elite Uchiha," Saskue said arrogantly, Naruto did not reply, he had made the hole in the tree a lot bigger now, it took the better part of an hour to hollow out the tree big enough so all three of them could sleep.

Sakura was about to step into the hole when Naruto stopped her, "one second, the tree is incredibly hot," Naruto said, Naruto then opened his canteen and pulled some water out, he was not as skilled with water manipulation as the Second Hokage but he had discovered that if you would give him a little bit of water than he could use his chakra to multiply the molecules and thus turn the one liter of water in his canteen to hundreds of gallons of water in a span of a few second.

As he pulled the water from his canteen with his water manipulation he then had the all of the water in his canteen swirling above his head, in a few seconds the water grew and grew, while Sakura looked at the display of high water manipulation in wonder, Saskue was attempting to copy whatever Naruto was doing with his eyes.

Satisfied at the amount of water that he now held over his head, Naruto then willed the water into the hole, the result was a large cloud of hot steam.

Naruto turned to his two teammates, "I'll get first watch, and then I'll wake one of you up after four hours." Naruto offered, both his teammates nodded, when Saskue and Sakura were resting, Naruto made a hundred clones to watch in all directions, his clones then activated there Rinnegan so they could see chakra signatures.

The real Naruto was in a tree opposite from his teammates, he was sitting in a meditative position on the branch.

As always he felt the turning of the earth, the pull of the moon, if he were to go deeper he could begin to feel not only the pull of the sun, but also the pull of other suns. Naturally when he felt these pulls he had begun to wonder if there was other life out there besides this world, and if so would the people there even be people, would they have chakra, would the even speak the same language?

But now is not the time to ponder the mysteries of the universe, he cut his connection to gravity in favor of chakra, he could feel the chakra of his teammates first, Sakura's was average, Saskue's was larger for his age. Naruto then could feel his clones, like all of his clones they were the same as his only not as vast as the originals. To the north he could feel others, he could feel six chakras, all of which were average, he then focused on those six signatures, and he could feel that all six of them were members of his graduating class. _"it seems that they teamed up… smart move I guess, it seems like Shikamaru convinced his team to team up with them… one of them is a bit farther away than the others, my guess is that is Hinata, she would undoubtedly be on watch with her Byakugan."_ Naruto deduced.

"_I cannot allow two my team to go against them, Saskue might be able to take a few out but he would no doubt underestimate the Ino-Shika-Cho combination and become trapped while Kiba and his team deal with me and Sakura." _Naruto was conflicted, he did not want to hurt his friends but at the same time they are enemies as long as the exam goes on.

Naruto continued to feel around for chakra, he then stumbled upon the chakra that powered the seal that was meant to herd the genin to the tower. He could feel the seal already start to move closer into the forest; the seal was now a good mile into the forest. That was when Naruto got an idea, _"I could use gravity manipulation on Shikamaru's and Kiba's teams to gently place them in front of the inclosing barrier, that way I would not need to hurt them and they would be out for the count. I still have three hours left to wake up Sakura for her shift so I could get it done." _Naruto surmised

* * *

Hinata was scanning the area around her team's camp; they had run into team ten earlier in the day, none save for Kiba really wanted to fight them. So Shino and Shikamaru convinced there teams to work together.

Hinata then stopped in her scan when her eyes picked up on a very large and rapidly approaching chakra source. Hinata then made the mistake of turning to her teammates to attempt to call out, she was then stunned in fear when she heard the sound of someone landing softy a few feet behind her.

Hinata was about to reach to her kunai holster when she heard a voice that made her pause and her heart race. "Hinata… don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you." Naruto whispered softly. Hinata slowly turned around to see her crush Naruto standing there in the moon light, her heart skipped a beat when she saw him take a step towards her, Naruto smiled at her, Hinata was entranced in that smile. Naruto then stepped within arm's reach of her; Hinata just looked red as a tomato when she looked into his blue eyes that reflected to moon light. "N…Naru-"but she was cut off when suddenly her world went black.

Naruto had used himself as a distraction for one of his clones to swiftly knock Hinata into unconsciousness without causing her pain.

Naruto then activated his Rinnegan, he was pleased to see that everyone was asleep; he then made a dozen clones to help guard him from animals and other genin.

Naruto focused on the pull of gravity and the way that it pulled all beings of this earth towards its center he then focused on the personal centers of gravity of all six sleeping genin in front of him. He then willed gravity to become lighter around the genin, they all then began to float at eye level of Naruto. Luckily none from team ten our eight noticed the change, in fact some IE Kiba and Akamaru seemed to like the change from cold hard forest floor to being light as a feather.

The down side to this is that because Naruto has to focus on so many people, he cannot tree hop, the fastest he can go is a light jog.

Naruto began to jog to the edge of the forest while his clones set up a guarding perimeter.

It took two and a half hours to get near the seal that was slowly constricting the confines of the area of the exams.

Naruto stopped when he felt the chakra of the barrier seal, it was approaching his position, Naruto now could see the barrier seal with his Rinnegan, the seal had a transparent red color to it, Naruto then willed the gravity around team nine and ten to put gently place them in front of the approaching sealing barrier.

Naruto stayed there until he saw the barrier pass over the sleeping genin.

Satisfied that he had now put two teams out of the running and also without hurting his friends, he then made way to his own camp.

* * *

The next day team seven was tree hopping towards the tower; Naruto was now upfront with Saskue in the rear, Naruto then landed on a tree and signaled for his teammates to halt.

"What is it dobe?" Questioned Saskue, Naruto put his finger to his lips, it was silent, no sound at all, "here that?" Asked Naruto in a whisper, "here what?" Asked Sakura, "exactly" Naruto said. Realization dawned on the two other member of team seven; there was no sound of birds, no wind, no insects, no animals, not even the sound of other genin.

"Genjutsu?" Asked Saskue, Naruto shook his head, "no… I feel a large chakra signature rapidly approaching us." Naruto explained, "Feel… are you a sensor?" Asked Sakura, Naruto quieted her with a 'not time for this' look.

Naruto closed his eyes to focus on the large chakra approaching them, suddenly the chakra was gone. Naruto was confused and focused even harder.

This proved to be a mistake; Naruto's eyes were closed so he did not see the Grass Kunoichi fly towards him and connect a foot to his jaw.

The kick was so powerful that it sent Naruto flying and crash into a tree.

Saskue and Sakura were taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of the Grass ninja.

Saskue on instinct pulled out a kunai and put himself in between the threat and Sakura.

"Normally I would banter and play around with my food, but I am a busy person and would rather make this quick." The strange ninja said, before anyone had time to react the ninja launched herself at the two genin, Saskue could not even track her movements.

The ninja suddenly appeared in between Saskue and Sakura; the ninja then sent a powerful punch at Sakura's gut and sent her flying into a tree as well.

Saskue tried to send the ninja a round house kick to the chest, but his foot was caught.

The ninja the pinned Saskue to the tree, he held him up by the throat and looked him in the eyes. "Do you wish to gain power?" The ninja asked, Saskue's one tome Sharingan looked into the golden snake like eyes of the ninja before him.

"F…fuck you!" Saskue managed to croak out. The ninja sighed, "I will show you just how weak you are then… maybe the death of a comrade will show you that you need my power." The ninja hissed.

Saskue's eyes went wide, but before he could react the ninja leapt at the prone figure of Naruto. _"No… I need to stop her!" _Saskue panicked.

Saskue lunged at the ninja; he then sent a fire ball to attempt to put her off track. It worked when the ninja changed course to avoid the fireball.

Saskue then landed in between the ninja and the unconscious Naruto, the Grass nin chuckled at the boy in front of him. "So the Uchiha is not quite the coward after all." The kunoichi goaded, Saskue growled at her and launched himself in a heated taijutsu match against the ninja.

The ninja was dodging and blocking all of the Uchiha's hits and kicks. Sometime later the ninja grew bored and began to counter; Saskue sent a hard punch to the ninja's head only for the hand to be caught and another hand to quickly make its way to his head.

Saskue's heart was pounding in his ears, _"No time… I can't see it to dodge; if she hits me with that I would lose… my team would die… I would lose people again… I won't allow that to happen!" _Saskue thought with determination, just then the one tome Sharingan evolved into two, it was just enough to perceive the fist and be able to dodge out of the way of the fist.

Saskue then sent a kick to the ninja and to his surprised it connected, the ninja was kicked back a few feet, "Ahh it does seem that you have evolved your eyes… maybe you are not quite as useless." The ninja stated.

But before Saskue could retort the ninja's neck suddenly extended, Saskue was not fast enough to dodge, the Grass nin's teeth then made its way into the flesh of Saskue's neck, the ninja's neck retracted, "take that as a parting gift, one day you will seek my power, only then will you be able to kill your brother." The ninja said before turning into mud.

Saskue doubled over in pain, his neck hurt so bad, the pain was too much, he soon fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

A few minutes later Naruto awoke the grass nin kicked him so hard that when he hit his head on the tree and was instantly incapacitated him.

Naruto groaned whilst rubbing his sore head. His vision was blurry; he shakily made it to his feet. His eyes then fell upon the downed Uchiha. "Saskue!" Naruto yelled, Naruto made his way to his teammate and checked his vitals. "Good… you're alive." Naruto said out load, Naruto's thoughts then went to his pink hared teammate; Naruto activated his eyes to search for her chakra.

He felt her about fifty meters away, Naruto made a clone to pick up Saskue and both he and the clone made his way to Sakura.

Sakura thankfully did not fall all the way down to the ground and was actually in a tree branch, Naruto was happy to find that she too was alive, Naruto made another clone to pick her up as well. He needed to get out of the area and find a place to assess the damage of his teammates.

A few hours later and Naruto found a cave.

* * *

Naruto checked Sakura first, Naruto was no medic and the Rinnegan only really allowed him to see the chakra of the person and not the skeletal system unlike the Byakugan. All Naruto could do at the moment was patch up her bleeding wounds and ask her what hurt when she woke up.

He then scanned Saskue, he found no real physical injuries, but what he could see was vile chakra emanating from a seal on his neck. Naruto was cautious with this. He did not know the nature of this seal, if he removed it than it could cause Saskue to die. Also he did not want to absorb such disgusting chakra, he could probably use his body as a funnel and then eject the chakra but again he did not want to risk killing his teammate.

And So Naruto waited for his team to awaken, he waited, and waited, and waited. It was now dark and his teammates were sound asleep still. Naruto guessed that Sakura had a concussion and Saskue was being affected by the strange seal.

Naruto stayed awake all that night. He did not dare to move to a new location in the morning, picking up Sakura in the first place was risky in itself for he did not know the extent of her injuries.

* * *

It was around noon, Naruto was making lunch in the form of a rabbit stew that his clones hunted for him.

Naruto made enough for the three of them in the hopes that they would wake up today, Naruto was lazing around the cave, and he was currently meditating. _"That ninja yesterday… her chakra was way too big to be a genin, and I did not feel any demonic presence in her so that was all her chakra. And why did she put a seal on Saskue, I can feel the chakra from the seal on him… It's trying to meld with his chakra, but it looks like it needs to be activated for that to happen, no doubt the seal gives a power boost of some kind but why would an enemy want to power up Saskue?" _Naruto questioned, but before he could ponder farther he suddenly felt three average sized chakra signatures closing in on him.

Naruto casually strolled out of the cave to find three Sound genin land in the clearing in front of the cave.

"We are here to kill the Uchiha… step aside and you won't be killed," said the Sound ninja with the wrapped up face.

Naruto just stared at the three impassively, "taking out the last Uchiha before the clan can be reborn to possibly cause trouble for your new village eh? Smart move." Naruto analyzed.

The Kunoichi in the group stepped up, "Look hear kid step aside we're not interested in a nobody like you!" Demanded the Kunoichi.

Naruto turned his cold gaze to her, his eyes pierced the Kunoichi. "I suggest you leave." Naruto said, the other sound ninja who was yet to speak spoke up, "ha yeah right brat, only one of us can take you out and there are three of us!" He said with arrogance.

It was then when Naruto spiked his chakra, his chakra presence alone cracked the earth beneath him, a sliver haze surrounded him, the air then filled with the oppression of killing intent.

The presence of this blond boy in front of the three Sound ninja was so great that they began to step back out of instinct. Naruto then activated his Rinnegan and raised the gravity around the three Sound genin so they were forced into kneeling positions.

Naruto put his hands behind his back and casually made his way to the kneeling Sound ninja, his silver chakra remained around him and the killing intent still lingered.

"You are but ants beneath me… you come before me and not only attempt to kill my comrade but also myself… I smell the smell of snakes upon you... I also smell the smell of weakness. The gall of your actions disgusts me… you will now die because your continued existence annoys me." Naruto said in an authoritative voice, the way he paced around the kneeling genin was akin to that of a king chastising his subjects, his words would appear to be arrogant but the power being exuded from him was prof the It was confidence and a stated fact that he could end them with a thought.

And That is what Naruto did, he walked back to the cave, with each step he increase the gravity around the Sound ninja, as soon as he reached the cave the ninja were turned to mush on the ground with all of their bones and internal organs pressed down as if a large bolder smashed them.

It was only later did Naruto realize what he had done, he had taken three lives because he just felt like it, he could have knocked them out and put them behind the barrier seal but no, like he said he just did it because they were annoying nothing more nothing less.

"_W…why, I always killed for a reason… how could I just take life so casually like that…I did not even feel remorse… I still don't… I just feel confused… am I really turning into a monster?" _Naruto questioned.

* * *

The sun was going down and to Naruto's guess it was around six In the afternoon, it was then when he felt a disgusting presence coming from the Uchiha in the cave, Naruto was in the clearing doing some pushups when he felt the chakra spike.

He turned to see Saskue stepping out of the cave being covered in black flame symbols on his skin and a visible purple chakra presence emanating from Saskue.

Saskue was on a power high, he could feel the huge power boost, it felt like ecstasy, he wanted to kill something, anything. It was then when his eyes turned to the dobe of his team.

"Naruto… this power… fight me… I want to feel it!" Saskue yelled. Naruto looked at his teammate with worry, "Saskue that seal is giving you that power, but it seems that it is eating at your mind… stop now or it could have damaging affects." Naruto advised.

But Saskue was on cloud nine, he did not here his word. He then leapt at Naruto; in a daze he fought his teammate. Naruto easily dodged the wild attacks, Naruto was dodging and blocking with a frown on his face, _"so this is the price of this power, sanity… it seems that that person that we fought yesterday wants to turn Saskue into a thrall of some sorts, having the Sharingan with under your thumb is an obvious power move, but why, does Grass want to change Saskue's allegiance so they could breed the Uchiha into their ranks? Is that person even from Grass?" _Naruto asked himself all the while dodging and blocking his crazed teammate.

Naruto had enough analysis of the power and made his way to end Saskue's rampage, in a blur of speed Naruto made his way behind Saskue and quickly chopped at his neck affectively knocking him out. Before Saskue could hit the ground Naruto caught him and picked him up to set him down near Sakura.

* * *

It was now the third day of the exams, Naruto could feel the barrier closing in on his team, he needed to move them but he was still afraid of further injuring Sakura, Naruto sighed, he left a clone to watch over his teammates while he looked for water.

Naruto was filling his team's canteens when he felt another chakra signature, this one was also too large for a normal genin but it seems that it was approaching at a casual pace.

Naruto quickly whirled around and drew a kunai while taken a ready stance.

Just then a Leaf ninja with white hair and round glasses dropped from the trees, Naruto tensed up and narrowed his eyes, the ninja brought his hands up in a surrendering fashion, "wow there, I only came for some water, we're both Leaf ninjas here and I don't feel like fighting." The man said, Naruto eyed him whirly, he kept his guard but he put up his kunai and dropped his stance.

"Thank you..." The man trailed off obviously searching for a name, "Naruto" Naruto answered, The man smiled at him, "I'm Kabuto Yakushi." The now identified Kabuto said.

Naruto stepped aside and allowed Kabuto to get the water from the river, Naruto could smell the smell of chemicals and snakes upon this person, the reason for his better smell was thanks to his Preta path he now has such good control of his chakra he could use it to enhance certain aspects of his senses.

The snake's upon him made him weary but he brushed it off thinking that he might of ran into one of the large snakes around the forest but the chemicals intrigued him. "I can smell chemicals on you… are you a medic?" Naruto asked hopefully, he needed someone to check on Sakura, it was a risk to show him there camp but he was confident enough in his abilities that he could take this person if need be.

Kabuto gave him a curious look but smiled none the less, "I am… why?" Kabuto asked, Naruto sighed, _"please don't make me kill you," _Naruto thought to himself, "I have a teammate who needs help, she sustained heavy injuries but I do not have the knowledge to help her." Naruto said in a defeated tone.

Kabuto looked thoughtful at this, "what's in it for me if I help you?" Kabuto asked, at this point Naruto was desperate, Sakura had not woken up for a full day and she could be in a coma for all he knew, he needed her to live. Naruto thought about what he could give this man in return, he looked like they type that valued knowledge greatly, what he was about to agree to was a risk but he needed his team to pass damn it.

Naruto gave a long sigh, he was about to answer when Kabuto chucked, "I was kidding, sure I'll help, just as long as you don't attack me or my teammates during the rest of the exam." Naruto could not believe his luck, not only did Sakura have a chance to get better but he could safely assume that he had one less team to have to worry about.

Naruto nodded in agreement.

* * *

Later Kabuto was scanning Sakura to check her injuries, it took a few minutes, after the diagnostics test his hands stopped glowing green. Kabuto then got up from his crouched position.

"She has a concussion and most of her ribs are broken, luckily for her there is no internal bleeding, I can repair her injuries, after that she should wake up by tomorrow." Kabuto reported.

Naruto gave a sigh of relief, "thank you," Naruto said, Kabuto just waved him off, "I'm a doctor it's my job to heal," Kabuto said, Naruto smiled at that.

Later that day Naruto bid Kabuto a farewell and sent some clones to hunt.

Naruto was making lunch when he heard Saskue stir, "uhh" Saskue groaned, Saskue then shot up and drew a kunai, he looked around the cave to see Naruto making food and Sakura sleeping peacefully.

"What happened?" Saskue asked, Naruto looked at him, "you've been out for about two days now, that Grass nin gave you a seal that eats at your mind." Naruto said seriously, Saskue blinked, he then remembered the strange and powerful ninja that attacked his team, "what happened to her?" Saskue asked, Naruto shrugged, "I woke up after she left." Naruto reported, Saskue put away his kunai and made to sit next to Naruto near the cooking food

Saskue noticed the tired and disheveled look of Naruto, "you've been awake for two days?" Saskue asked Naruto nodded tiredly, "we were exposed, already a team was here that tried to kill us but they aren't a problem anymore." Naruto said with a grimace, Naruto had actually cleaned up the mess with clones a day ago.

Saskue looked at Naruto with surprise, "y…you took on a whole team?" Saskue asked with disbelief, Naruto nodded solemnly, "the insects wanted to kill us so I dealt with them like insect." Naruto said with anger coating his voice, Saskue never saw this side of Naruto before, Naruto was always the happy fool that would never hurt a fly, but there he was stating that he had taken lives with ease and possibly slight pleasure.

Saskue wanted to scoff at him but the look in Naruto's eyes had told him that it was true, Saskue being from a clan of ninjas had seen a look of a killer before, he had seen what killing does to people, case in point his brother.

"How?" Saskue asked, Naruto was expecting him to deny his claim but instead he asked him how, not in a sarcastic way but in a curious way. "eh, I just bind sided em with an army of shadow clones and a lot of kunai." Naruto lied, Saskue nodded at that satisfied with the answer.

After lunch Naruto fell asleep, now that Saskue was awake he could take watch, Naruto had told him of the medic nin and how he helped Sakura, Saskue did not show it but he was very grate full to the mysterious medical ninja.

* * *

The next day Sakura woke up, Naruto had explained everything that happened in the last three days, leaving out the part of Saskue's rampage and the exact details of how he managed to take out the Sound team, Sakura was touched when she heard that Naruto had stayed up two days strait and managed to not only defend them from an enemy team but also managed to convince a medical ninja to heal her.

The three where now tree hopping and making good progress to the tower, they had four days remaining to the test Naruto was thankful to whatever divine force that gave Naruto the Rinnegan because without it he had no idea if he could have handled this test has easy has he had so far.

It took the whole day to reach the tower; it was now dark, team seven found a suitable tree that was within sight of the tower. Naruto had once again used what he calls 'plasma release,' this plasma release acts the same as fire release but only it is much more powerful. It requires both large reserves and very good chakra control, as well as a high affinity for fire natured chakra.

Sakura took watch that night and Saskue and Naruto was grateful for that.

* * *

The next few days consisted mainly of hunting, scouting, and setting up traps.

Naruto used a lot of his old pranking experience to set up the traps and Saskue scouted the area with his Sharingan to help, while Sakura scavenged for berries and small game.

It was now the last day of the test, they had not encountered any teams so far, but that only set them on edge even more.

Sakura was out searching for food when suddenly a kunai came out of nowhere, Sakura dodged on instinct. She immediately took out her own kunai and got into a ready stance.

Suddenly three Rain ninja with tight tan jump suits and rebreathers appeared in front of Sakura. "O well look here boys, a little girl got lost in the woods," one of the Rain genin goaded, "mmm I can smell her from hear." Said another, "Let's have some fun before we kill this tree hugger," said the third Rain nin.

Sakura was nervous, she had never come up against a ninja in a life or death situation before, she shifted her stance to a more defensive stance, she then remembered something about Naruto being a sensor of some type so she spiked her chakra in an attempt to get his attention.

The three ninja just chuckled at her, thinking that her sudden chakra spike was an attempt to scare them. "Ha, nice try little girl, but here is where you die!" Said the Rain ninja in unison.

The Rain ninja leapt at Sakura, Sakura was able to dodge most of their attacks, Sakura mentally thanked Kakashi for focusing on her dodging skills as a main priority just behind chakra control.

She was good but she was not, dodge three opponents for an extended period of time good. Soon she began to grow tired and her opponents had good teamwork, they began to overwhelm her, there punches began to connect, Sakura was able to hold off the onslaught for a few seconds until one punch got under her guard and made her stumble, this caused a snowball effect as punch after punch began to hit Sakura harder and harder.

Finally one punch was so hard that it sent her reeling into a tree a few meter away. "Not bad little girl," one Rain nin praised, then the Rain ninja took out there kunai, "now we get to cut ya," said another.

They rushed at the downed Sakura, but before they could get within five feet of her everyone felt an immense presence that even made the trees groan under the pressure.

The Rain ninja turned around to see a Leaf ninja in an orange jump suit and blond hair give off such amazing chakra presence the it was visible in a silver haze around him.

Naruto looked at the three Rain ninja with anger in his eyes, the Rain ninja could not even say anything, they feared this boy before them. It was no doubt in their minds that his appearance was meant to throw off opponents, but unknown to them was that no one at the receiving end of Naruto's anger had ever lived to tell about it.

Naruto took a step towards the Rain ninja; the Rain nin took one back. Naruto looked behind them and saw Sakura's wounded state, Naruto's anger spiked, "you dare to lay a hand on one of my teammates?!" Naruto yelled, the Rain ninja where shivering under the killing intent, "s…sorry we-" one of the ninja's tried to explain before being blasted with such a powerful force of killing intent it made it hard to breath, Naruto was beyond angry, _"what fools to insight my wrath." _Naruto thought, "It matters not, you are all dead men." Naruto said darkly, before anyone had the chance to react three Naruto clones sprang from the earth behind the three Rain ninja, each took a handful of the ninja's hair and yanked at it, and in perfect unison each clone slit the throat there targets.

Blood ran down their necks and gurgling sounds could be heard through their rebreathers. All there enemies collapsed and a pool of blood soaked the ground underneath them.

Satisfied, Naruto dispelled his clones; he then walked up to Sakura with concern in his eyes, "are you okay?" Naruto asked, Sakura was still staring at the bodies of the Rain ninja, "y…you" Sakura said, Naruto crouched down to the sitting Sakura and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I put down some wild animals nothing more," Naruto said, Sakura was stunned by what he said, does Naruto really put so little value to human life they were enemies but still. "Wild animals?" Sakura questioned, Naruto nodded, "Sakura what they were planning on doing was much worse than death for you… in my mind they lost the rite to be considered human after that." Naruto explained. Sakura was taken aback; Naruto had just saved her from a kunoichi's worst fear. Sakura began to tear up and wrapped Naruto in a hug, "thank you," Sakura said, Naruto smiled at his friend and rubbed the back of her head, "don't mention it, that's what fiends are for." Naruto said.

Up above them in the trees, Saskue saw the entire thing go down, _"dobe…just how powerful are you?" _Saskue questioned in thought.

* * *

It was now afternoon and the doors to the tower were now opened. Team seven had ran into the tower first due to the position of their camp.

Upon arrival they were meet with the smiling face of Iruka, "wow guys, you got here fast," Naruto smiled at him, "yeah we've been camping near the tower, " Naruto admitted, Iruka huffed and crossed his chest, "dirty campers," Iruka muttered, Naruto shook his fist at Iruka, "it's a legitimate strategy!" Naruto yelled back. Iruka rolled his eyes, "yeah in domination but not death match." Iruka retorted, "ah screw you." Naruto huffed.

Iruka chuckled at Naruto, "well congratulations you made it anyway." Iruka said with a smile, it was then when Saskue's curse seal began to do one of its normal painful twitches. "Gah!" Saskue exclaimed in pain making Sakura immediately fuss over him.

Naruto looked at Saskue worryingly, "Iruka-sensei, Saskue needs help, we ran into a Grass ninja and they put some sort of strange seal on him." Naruto said, Iruka looked worried as well, "Kakashi is here take Saskue to him." Naruto and Sakura nodded and everyone left to find Kakashi.

* * *

It was much later, Kakashi was still not back yet from whatever he was doing with Saskue, the second Naruto showed Kakashi the seal on his neck, Kakashi took Saskue without a word and left.

Naruto was pacing irritably around the arena floor; he saw that the only teams that made it were the sand team and another Leaf team with a Hyuga, a cute girl with buns in her hair, and a very 'youthful' genin.

Naruto was worried about Saskue as to why he was pacing; Naruto realized that he was drawing attention to himself so he decided to sit near Sakura who was lounging around in the same arena floor that everyone else was at.

Not long after Naruto had managed to calm himself down, a green clad youth appeared in front of the sitting Naruto. "Hello my youthful friend, what is your name, I am Rock Lee a disciple of Maito Gai otherwise known as the Beautiful Green Beast of the Leaf!" Rock Lee shouted, Naruto raised an eyebrow at the curious fellow before him, he was dressed strangely but who was he to judge, he had a giant fucking fox in his gut.

Naruto stood up and extended his arms in a hand shake which Lee heartily shook, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the Copycat is my sensei." Naruto greeted, Lee looked at him with stars in his eyes at that, "wow so you are a student of my sensei's eternal rival most youthful!" Lee exclaimed, Naruto gave a nervous nod at the that, the guy didn't seem bad but he was most definitely eccentric.

Lee's gaze then fell upon his pink hared teammate, Lee's eyes then had hearts in them, "wow you are most beautiful, I am Rock Lee, please be my girlfriend and I would protect you with my life!" Rock Lee shouted.

But before Sakura could deny him, Lee felt a strong hand on his shoulder; he then looked back into the eyes that spoke of pain and death. "Lee… she isn't looking for anyone at the moment." Naruto said sternly, Lee saw the seriousness in Naruto's face, Naruto did not send out any killing intent or spiked his chakra, but sometimes all it takes a firm hand and a warning look to get others to back down, such a skill is only obtainable by those with real power to them.

Lee nodded quickly and began to change the subject for his own wellbeing, "I shall bring my teammates my new youthful friends so we can all be youthful together!" Lee yelled he then ran to his two teammates.

"You didn't have to do that you know," Sakura said, Naruto looked apologetically at her, "sorry, I guess it's just some residual protectiveness after what happened earlier today." Naruto said, Sakura gave him a smile, "it's alright Naruto," Sakura said.

Just then Lee came bounding his way with youth in his step, behind him came a Hyuga with an air of arrogance and a cute girl with buns in her hair.

"Naruto, Sakura, these are my most youthful teammates, Neji Hyuga and Tenten!" Lee said with youthful fires in his eyes. Naruto locked eyes with Neji, both staring each other down. Naruto could see his arrogance but also some skill to back it up, Neji could see determination and a feeling of power behind them which made Neji activate is Byakugan for a quick second to analyze the boy better, what he saw surprised him. Naruto's chakra was immense even more so than the Hokage's and to add to the powerful affect, his chakra was glowing sliver instead of the normal blue. The entire network of Naruto sent up red flags for the Hyuga, "I see… you are not to be underestimated Naruto," Neji said, this statement took Tenten by surprise, normally Neji would start ranting about fate by this point but instead he looked cautious and a little worried.

"Ah so you see it don't you?" Naruto asked, Neji gave him a single nod, "yes you will do well to go by your own warnings, I had hoped to hide that fact but seeing how you already know of my chakra then there is no hiding it." Naruto said.

"What does he mean Neji?" Tenten asked, Neji looked at Tenten, "Naruto's chakra is even more massive than the Hokage's… and it's different somehow." Neji said warningly.

Tenten looked at Naruto was a bit of awe, Naruto nodded at Neji, "you are already planning on hoping to take me out quickly so you know that I will always win in a battle of attrition." Naruto stated, Neji smirked at him, "so you aren't all power than." Neji said, Naruto nodded, "It will be fun fighting you, just don't go into any monologs about your past and you will make chunin even if you lose, we came here to fight not to hear your life's story." Naruto said, Neji internally was disappointed, he had a whole speech about fate planed and everything, little did anyone know, much like Gai and Lee's youth cult Neji was attempting to form his own about fate, looks like he would have to find a new method of preaching his ways.

Naruto's eyes then fell upon Tenten, he gave her a fox like grin which made her blush a bit, now Naruto would probably have been nervous around girls but due to being connected to the earth on a cosmic level as well as chakra, you kind of feel insignificant already so flirting with a girl came as no sweet to the blond. But unfortunately his duties had left him with only one female in his presence for an extended period of time so far and Sakura was more prone to hit him than anything.

Naruto funneled some chakra to his nose to better get an idea of who this girl is she smelled a lot like weapon polish and none like perfume.

"Weapon's mistress?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, Tenten smiled at him, "yep I'm going to be the best kunoichi with a weapon in all of the Leaf!" Tenten said proudly, Naruto nodded at that, "I don't doubt it, I had actually been interested In kenjutsu myself but I feel like I need to bring my speed up to par first before I try anything first." Naruto said.

Tenten had stars In her eyes, "really, I love kenjutsu, I've been practicing sense I could pick up a sword!" Tenten exclaimed, Naruto grinned at her, "well I've been good with traps ever sense I can remember, maybe we could teach each other a thing or two after the exams." Naruto said. Tenten nodded excitedly at that.

After some more small talk Lee and his team went to go find some food that was provided to the ones who made it in the exams so far leaving Naruto and Sakura.

* * *

Naruto was walking around the tower when he felt a presence behind him. Naruto smirked while turning around to see one Anko Mitarashi leaning against a wall lazily eating a dango stick. "I saw that kid… real smooth," Anko said with a mouth full of dango, Naruto crossed his arms, "told you the ladies love my whiskers," Naruto retorted.

Anko finished her dango stick and threw it at him like a senbon, Naruto held up his hand and let the stick pierce his skin, Naruto then pulled out the dango stick and burnt it with fire chakra. Naruto looked at his rapidly closing wound, "you know, other than the villagers being total cunts being a jinchuuriki is actually pretty awesome." Naruto said as his wound closed.

Anko chuckled at that, "yeah you and me both know how the villagers can be total cunts now can we?" Anko asked, Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, "we do?" he asked, Anko was surprised at herself, she never even said this much to a person other than the Hokage, she never told people about how the villagers hated her due to her sensei being Orochimaru.

Anko shrugged at him, Naruto nodded, it wasn't his business anyway, he like Anko well enough but he wasn't her consoler, consoling belonged on the battlefield were therapy jutsu can be applied with a round house kick to the face and screaming about how your ideals are wrong and mine are better.

"Say kid… why do you not shit yourself when I try to kill you?" Anko asked, Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, he caught he hidden meaning immediately what she was really asking was, 'why don't you hate me like everyone else?'

Naruto shrugged, "your pretty fun, and a lot of people tend to have a sick up there ass around here." Naruto said, Anko chuckled at him, she too caught the hidden meaning, 'I can see the real you and I don't mind at all', it said.

Anko looked incredulously at Naruto, she strode over seductively at him in an attempt to win there teasing game, if she could not win with words she would win with actions.

Anko bent down to eye level at Naruto and wrapped her arms around his neck and stared into his eyes, "well now aren't you just a charmer?" Anko purred, Naruto was waiting for when she would attempt her final push into their game, her attire alone suggested that she would try to use her beautiful form to win these teasing games that she would do to generally make the male populous of the Leaf uncomfortable and in the need of a cold shower.

Naturally Naruto was feeling a rise in his most sacred of regions. But he kept a cool face, he did not try to fight his bodies natural response for it will only make matters worse and focusing on it would probably make his face turn red and the second Anko saw blush she would claim victory.

"O is my proctor showing favoritism?" Naruto said in a low husky voice in an attempt to use her own game against her. Anko was surprised that he would go so far, by this point he should be a sweeting stuttering red faced mess. She Leaned in closer and felt his rise, she smirked, _"ha got you now once I point that out you would have lost this!" _Anko thought with confidence.

"Looks like someone's happy with my _favoritism_" Anko said stressing the word favoritism, Naruto gave her a fox like grin, "yes and I can smell someone who agrees," Naruto said, Naruto had been pumping chakra into his nose, he pumped so much that he could smell the slight arousal pheromones coming off Anko, not as well as an Inuzuka could but close enough.

Anko's eyes went wide, not only did this kid brush off her greatest jib save for full on molestation but he actually quite accurately threw it back at her. True she was a bit attracted to Naruto, if not because he was so easy to get along with , still a bit to young right now and short but maybe in a few years.

"Still a bit too young sport," Anko said with a sigh, Naruto still kept his fox like simile, "eh don't worry about it, I have a feeling that the fox won't want a weak vessel for long." Naruto stated.

And true that was, from time to time Naruto would talk to the Kyuubi, mostly it consisted of a lot of 'foolish mortal' or 'damn you forth Hokage' but Naruto was greatly interested in the fox.

The fox was pure chakra given sentience; he wondered if that's just what happened when great quantities of chakra amassed outside of the human body. He had asked the Kyuubi about it but the fox just huffed saying something like 'well never figure it out.' Which is why Naruto was determined to figure it out one day.

Anko gave Naruto a cheeky smile, "well you just come and find when that happens," Anko said seductively, Naruto grinded back at her, "maybe I will, if you're up for it." Naruto said.

* * *

It was now morning and the doors to the tower where closed, only nine people made it to the tower. Those nine people where the Sand siblings, team nine, and Team seven.

The nine people where gathered in the arena floor, in front of the nine genin where the Hokage, the two previous proctors of the exams and the jounin sensei.

The Hokage smiled at all of the genin before him, "congratulations all of you, now from here on out you will be alone, for the third exams are an elimination tournament style exam." The Hokage said to the gathered genin, he then went on to the explanation of what exactly the chunin exams where for which frankly disgusted Naruto.

"_So we risk our lives for the entertainment of fat nobles?! This is nothing more than a glorified advertisement scheme, it shows nothing of what is required in the field, well I won't give the fat pigs in the stands a show, I'll deal with my opponents swiftly so to not give those bastards the satisfaction!" _Naruto thought though gritted teeth.

Just then everybody's favorite cystic fibrosis patient Hayate Gekkou game in coughing up a storm, "I… am…. Hayate…Gekkou…I…will….be…your last…proctor…in these exams." Hayate said in between bouts of coughing.

"Do…to…the….uneven number of…participants…one of you will…be allowed to leave now." Hayate said, everyone looked around at each other no one seemed to move, that was until Sakura spoke up, "I will like to remove myself from the exams," Sakura stated, her two teammates looked wide eyed at this, "what!?" Naruto and Saskue shouted in unison, Sakura put up her hands in a defensive gesture, "look guys I'm not ready like you guys are, I only went along with this because I know that this mean so much to you, I'm not quite ready, there's a time to push forward and a time to take a tactical retreat to fight another day. This is one of those times," Sakura defended, Saskue looked a bit angry at this, but Naruto nodded, it was logical and honestly at her current level she could probably only draw with Tenten if Tenten was holding back a bit. Kakashi gave her an eye smile, "that's very mature of you Sakura, that right there is a good show of what it takes be a chunin, with more time and practice you will definitely be ready in six month when the exams roll around again." Kakashi stated.

Hayate coughed once more, "Very well… thank you for being selfless," Hayate said.

Sakura nodded and stepped near her sensei to show that she was not in the running anymore.

"Alright… if you look at the screen…it would randomize… your names… to show you…who….you will…be fighting in…the next….round…that…comes…up…in...a…month." Hayate said.

The screen ran through all the names of the current contestants, the names then stopped at a 'for some reason' expected first match, "the…first…match will be… Naruto Uzumaki…. Against…. Neji Hyuga..." Hayate coughed out again.

This went on for the next few minutes making the lineup look like this.

Naruto Uzumaki VS Neji Hyuga

Tenten VS Saskue Uchiha

Tamari VS Rock Lee

Kankuro VS Gaara

Then the Hokage stepped forward to address the genin, "You do your villages proud, I will be looking forward to your exiting matches in a month." The Hokage said.

Just then all the proctors and the Hokage disappeared in an overly dramatic swirl of leafs, leaving only the jounin sensei.

Kakashi walked up to his students with pride in his eyes, "I am proud of all three of you, Naruto I saw what you did in the woods trough the hidden cameras all throughout the forest, I am thankful to you as well for saving Sakura from that horrible fate." Kakashi said with pride, "Saskue, you showed great courage, even if you did not know that it was Orochimaru you were up against you still saved your comrade and even landed a blow on him." Kakashi beamed, Kakashi then turned towards Sakura, "Sakura just now you showed your own version of selflessness and wisdom, it's never easy to admit your short comings but I am proud and have no doubt that if you continue to take your training seriously than you will make a fine chunin one day." Kakashi eye smiled.

* * *

Team seven left it was near lunch time and the three genin of team seven were wondering what to eat for lunch, "Well…" Naruto trailed off, "If you say ramen I'm goanna hit you into next week!" Sakura yelled, Naruto held up his hands in surrender, "fine what do _you _want then?" Naruto questioned, Just then the team turned a corner to find one of the Akimichi owned barbeque restaurants.

Without a word Saskue walked in, "O well yeah Saskue, good idea Saskue, glad we talked about it Saskue, good talk Saskue!" Naruto yelled at the back of the Uchiha, Sakura giggled at the two.

"Well I could go for some barbeque," Sakura said, Naruto shrugged and followed Saskue.

Team seven walked in when they heard a "hey forehead!" and a "troublesome" across the building.

Team seven walked up to team ten, Choji as stuffing his face, Ino was ogling Saskue, and Shikamaru looked like he needed to ask Naruto a question.

"Hey guys what's up!" Naruto yelled, Choji gave a mock salute with his chopsticks, Ino ignored him in favor of stripping Saskue with her eyes, and Shikamaru gave a questioning look at his blond compatriot.

Naruto shrugged and sat himself next to Shikamaru who was sting in front of Ino and Choji in their usual booth. "Sure go ahead," Shikamaru grumbled Sakura sat next to Ino, while Saskue sat next to Naruto.

A waitress came up to ask for their orders, the waitress looked at Saskue with stars in her eyes, she looked at Sakura with a kind smile, and she looked at Naruto with utter disgust and hatred. Causing Saskue and Shikamaru who noticed to raise their respective eyebrows in questioning looks at Naruto.

Naruto saw there looks but honestly did not know why they were questioning him, and then he remembered that he was the 'demon' who killed the owner's wife and children almost thirteen years ago. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the idiocy of the plebeians before him.

After a few minutes of small talk Shikamaru asked the question that had been bothering him for almost a week now. "Naruto… did you have anything to do with us failing the last exam?" Shikamaru questioned, Naruto internally cursed himself, he should not have even let Hinata see him that night. Naruto attempted to play dumb, "huh? Why you think that?" Naruto asked Shikamaru kept looking at him with that same raised inquisitive eyebrow. "Because when we woke up on the second day we were suddenly outside of the barrier when I know for a fact that we were well within the confines of the forest, and for some reason when I questioned the people in our group, Hinata who was a part of the team that allied with us said that the last thing she saw was you." Shikamaru explained.

Naruto shrugged at him, "eh I have my ways, a ninja needs to keep some secrets," Naruto said while looking Shikamaru in the eyes, but Naruto's eyes said something different they said 'ask me again when I trust you more.' Shikamaru then dropped it.

* * *

The next day Naruto had awoken in his apartment, he had finished his morning rituals and was now looking at himself in the mirror, _"this orange screams 'kill me now please' for a ninja, but I still can't enter any shops because of the damn bigots!" _Naruto yelled in his mind.

"I need to get Kakashi to help buy me some new cloths, nothing fancy just something black and not suicidal like these." Naruto said out load.

But then Naruto slapped himself in the face, "fucking idiot just henge!" Naruto told himself, Naruto then took his frog wallet and, he walked out of his house and made It into an alleyway. Naruto henged himself his blond hair was now brown his blue eyes were now green, and his whiskers where gone, he even henged his cloths to look like normal civilian cloths, but he kept his forehead protector as to allow him access to shinobi stores. "Why did I not think of this before?" Naruto asked himself, "O yeah, I was broke before the A ranked and then I just kept training!" Naruto exclaimed to himself.

Later Naruto found himself in a shinobi store, luckily the owner who was a shinobi at one point was away for the day and his assistant who was only a civilian was there today.

Naruto looked around, and picked out his cloths, he picked out. A black mesh shirt with short sleeves and a black trench coat with a high collar to go with it, black cargo pants, and black steel toed combat boots. Nothing fancy like he said he wanted. Naruto bought seven pars of the cloths along with fingerless gloves with a steel back that he spotted by the checkout counter.

Naruto was about to leave the store until he saw the most glorious pair of aviator sunglasses that he had ever seen, These sunglasses were black like the rest of his attire.

Naruto bought them without a second's hesitation.

* * *

Later that day Naruto had put on his new cloths, he was happy at how they looked now, Naruto saw the his new sunglasses on his dresser, he kept his gaze one his mirror, Naruto slowly put the aviators to his face.

Naruto smirked at his reflection "danger zone." Naruto said, and then the faint sounds of jet air planes could be heard in Naruto's mindscape.

**(AN: So there you have it, I wanted to actually get the whole arch done in this chapter but I have plans for character development to happen during the one month break, Some of you will not like the fact that Sakura will not get the chance to participate in the last exam and think that I am being unfair in just tossing her away, I had actually wanted her to fight Saskue originally and I was putting together the fight in my head until I hit a mental wall and found something better, I know I said no bashing but I will say that I will be bashing the very notion of the third exams a whole lot. I think it very obtuse to believe that only the chunin exams decide weather or not one is capable of being a chunin. Haven't anyone heard of a filed promotion? **

**Also the whole third exams really is nothing more than a glorified billboard for the hidden villages. But I also understand the importance of the dramatics in them for the sake of the story so I will be juggling both my loath for the aristocrats and my love for dramatics. **

**Some of you may feel that Naruto going all holier than thou on those other genin was a bit much, I just wanted to show you guys a hint of what I have planned for our formerly orange clad ninja.**

**And yes I wrote that entire last scene just to set up that Top Gun refrence, and I also named the entire chapter for said reference, you guys might not understand but I actually we wrote the beginning scene two time just to fit in the LOTR reference. I find reference to be both an easy yet affective way to seamlessly fit in some comic relief. I highly recommend that you either watch Top Gun before the next chapter or listen to the song Danger Zone. **

**Well you stay classy )**


	4. Finals and Sand Demons

**The Curse of the Rinnegan**

**Declaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**Chapter 4**

**(AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, fist off let me say that I finally learned to spell Sasuke! Yeah I know passing the third grade is always fun right? No but really my program was all like, "nope I'm goanna annoy the shit out of you and not allow you to spell Sasuke how you want it." So I just gave up, I might go back and fix it later but I'll do that when I feel like it really, also you will notice that I do not add 'Of the Desert' at the end of Gaara's name. That is because I feel like 'Of the Desert' is just too bad ass of a name to not be earned. Also I like to stress that Naruto is basically at this point a human computer who is a quarter of the time run by emotions. I wanted to make Naruto smart because as we all know it is actually the smart people who end up wining in the end. Or do they? But really I like to thank everyone for telling me how much of an idiot I can be with some obvious mistakes I make, that was not sarcasm. I am happy with the story so far but let me tell you all this now, I have no parings planed nor will have one planned for a while. I am letting Naruto flirt with girls because he is a confident boy that is going into puberty but at the same time respectful due to his advanced mind. I appreciate your suggestions however because it shows your interest in the story. Also to the people who are also fans of "The New Age of the Uzumaki", I am NOT abandoning the story, I just find it a lot easier and more fun at the moment to write this story. Actually I had a Rinnegan story already in my head before the idea for "The New Age of the Uzumaki," was even conceived, it just so happened that I got immediate inspiration at the time for "The New Age of the Uzumaki." But like I said fear not, I will continue that story eventually, now let us move on with our story, gather around and hear my tale little ones.) **

It was now the first official beginning of Naruto's one month of full dedicated training for the chunin exams, Naruto was confident enough to be able take down most of the competition with relative ease; for the most part Naruto hated the idea of a gladiatorial style match for the last exams. In an economic stand point it made sense to flaunt your village's prowess to potential clients, but in a military based stand point it was incredibly idiotic to show rival villages potential counters to some of your villages' best jutsu. Also the people fighting are ninja's damnit, what ever happened to be one with the shadows or even hide in plain sight. Not strut around like a damn peacock and put a target on your head before you even make chunin. Regardless of the very loose definition of a ninja that most shinobi go by, Naruto had no intention of given the aristocrats a show, most of those people in the stands are the same people who had made Narutos' life hell, he may not want to kill them for what they did but that doesn't mean that he has to play the dancing monkey for those fat bastards now does he?

Naruto was fully aware that if he did not show off a little bit than he probably won't be promoted, that was of little consequence to Naruto, he would be promoted like a ninja, through experience and the sweat on his brow and not in a damn circus act.

Regardless, the Hokage had told him that Jiraiya of the sannin had wanted to meet him and possible train him. Now that was an opportunity that Naruto could _not _pass up.

Naruto was on his way to the hot springs that the Hokage had told him that the Toad Sage could be found at. Naturally Naruto had assumed Jiraiya was just doing what anyone would be doing at the hot springs and just relaxing after a hard day of work.

Naruto found the hot springs, he was about to go inside when Naruto's ears picked up the sound of perverse giggling coming from the females side of the springs.

Naruto's brow ticked, _"really? How much of a jack ass do you have to be to peep on a public bath house?" _Naruto questioned.

Naruto rounded the corner intent on making whoever was peeping on the women in the springs pay for his perversions. It was then when Naruto saw him, the long white hair, and toad that was half the man's size that the man was using as a steep stool to peer over the edge of the fence was enough of a give away to his identity.

Naruto gained a few more tick marks on his brow at the realization that such a legendary figure such as Jiraiya was a pervert.

Naruto cleared his throat to gain the perverts attention; the old perv still gave no indication that he noticed him. Naruto rolled his eyes at him, "you know you would be dead by now if I was an enemy." Naruto stated lazily, Jiraiya still did not stop ogling the ladies but he did however scoff at Naruto, "yeah sure kid now get lost you're ruining my research." Jiraiya said dismissively.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, Naruto had little time for this, Naruto was planning on dropping his mask during the finals now that the whole point of it was ruined by Neji there was just no reason to continue to act like a fool it would actually be more of a detriment now to keep his mask if he wanted to make any type of head way to gain supporters for when he makes his bid for Hokage in the future, Naruto has a lot of catching up to do he could have been a chunin almost a jounin by now but he had to keep it toned down for a while. The Hokage had been working hard to build up Naruto's supporters on the council and has made good progress if Naruto had shown an exponential increased in skill all of a sudden than they would have accused Naruto of being influenced by the Kyuubi, now however all of the shinobi council and even some of those of the civilian council have taken a more neutral stance to Naruto. "The old man said you wanted to meet me." Naruto stated Jiraiya this time spared Naruto a glance; the kid didn't look like much to him.

Black cargo pants, black steel toed boots, black mesh shirt, black trench coat that ran down to his ankles, black fingerless gloves with steel backings, and black aviators. _"Gees does all this kid ware is black?" _Jiraiya questioned in thought.

Naruto had his arms crossed by this time and looked pensive at Jiraiya, "So what you want kid?" Jiraiya asked, Naruto sighed, "I was told to come here because you wanted to see me, what is it that _you _want?" Naruto asked while stressing the 'you', Jiraiya then hopped off his toad step stool and motioned the toad to leave.

Jiraiya walked a few paces to stand opposite of Naruto and crossed his arms as well. "You sure know how to sound like a smart ass now don't you?" Jiraiya asked rhetorically.

Jiraiya usually did this when meeting potential apprentices; he would push their buttons in an attempt to get a rise out of them to see whether or not they are prone to brash action. This was a subtle test that he has been using for a while, there was not so much as a failure state in this test more of a, 'does this person click with me and can I work with them' test. The exact reactions of Naruto would show him a little about his personality, yes he is Minato's son and he is the boys godfather so that already puts two points for him but he wants to see just what kind of person Naruto is and may become. It is his duty as a Toad Sage to pick only the most worthy of people to carry on the contact, Minato was going to be the one but however he died before Jiraiya could officially retire and hand over the contract to him.

Naruto on his end was much more perceptive than the other people Jiraiya had put this subtle test to. If Naruto was the same person he was almost two years ago than he probably would be screaming at Jiraiya for calling him a smart ass, however Naruto was much smarter than that, his intelligence was on par if not better that a Nara and his capacity of logical deduction was even better than an Aburame. All thanks to the Rinnegan unlocking the full potential of the human brain and his capacity is just going to keep growing until he reaches his prime.

Naruto smirked at Jiraiya, "Well frankly _Pervy Sage_ I am quite busy as I have an arrogant Hyuga to put in his place in a month now how about instead of looking at ass, maybe you should tell a smart ass why he is here ne?" Naruto goaded while stressing Jiraiya's new nickname.

Jiraiya shook his fist at Naruto, "Oi you little brat you should respect your elders and don't call me that!" Jiraiya yelled if Jiraiya could see it, he would see Naruto's eyes roll once more. "Well you are a pervert who happens to be a sage what in the hell would I call you?" Naruto asked Jiraiya puffed out his chest, "I am Jiraiya the gallant, the heart throb and ledgendary Toad Sage Jiraiya of the Legendary Sennin!" Jiraiya declared proudly while doing a strange dance and somehow acquiring fireworks to work into the end of his declaration.

Naruto shook his head and chuckled at the perverts antics, "you're an old perv who's wasting my time, I don't mean to be rude here but I got to train, it's not that I'm worried about the exams, it's just that I got this bad feeling that shits goanna hit the fan sometime soon and I need to be strong enough to protect the village." Naruto informed, Jiraiya's eyebrow ticked in annoyance at first but as Naruto continued, Jiraiya could hear the conviction in his voice, the same drive to protect the village that his father had, _"Minato, it seems you were not wrong about your son… he will indeed become a great shinobi one day." _Jiraiya mused in thought.

Naruto then was about to leave when a question struck him, _"wait… why does a sannin want to see me in the first place, why am I just thinking this now… o yeah I was too busy thinking of all the ways I could beat Neji's ass in a month." _Naruto then looked at Jiraiya, "what did the old man tell you about me?" Naruto asked, Naruto trusted his surrogate grandfather to not tell just anybody about his Rinnegan, in fact the only two people in the world that knew about it was him and Naruto even if Jiraiya was a former student of the aged Hokage it still wasn't enough to just tell him, Naruto figured that if he was put in a spot where he had no choice but to reveal it to Jiraiya than it would not be the end of the world.

Jiraiya shrugged, "not much, I was the one who checked over your seal when I got back home a few weeks after your birth, I haven't seen you sense he just told me that you were in the chunin exams this year and you had something special to show me." Jiraiya informed, Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, _"really… does the old man trust him that much? He didn't really just up and told him so that proves that the old man wanted me to tell him, but he also is basically putting me in a position as if to nudge me into telling him… I trust the old man's judgment so if he says he can keep a secret than that at least puts him in a good light… I need to know more about him first." _Naruto concluded.

Jiraiya motioned Naruto to follow him in which Naruto complied.

* * *

The two walked off towards a secluded training ground all the while making light conversation, Jiraiya asked about his team and sensei and what sort of training he does. Naruto informed him about his gravity seals that the Hokage had put on him when he was eleven, and about Kakashi and his teammates. About how the Hokage was grooming him for when he eventually took the hat by teaching Naruto in his spare time about politics and law and proper court edict.

Jiraiya was impressed about Naruto's ability to think ahead, most people only saw as the Hokage as a strong warrior, which was true, however the Hokage is also the second most important political figure in the country. The Hokage walks a fine line, too much politics and he can become corrupt and weak. Too much soldering and he could just become nothing more than a figure head to keep the public happy and a scapegoat when things go wrong.

Naruto had taken it upon himself to learn as much about internal and external village politics he could, along with his normal ninja training.

Jiraiya and Naruto were nearing the secluded training grounds when Jiraiya asked a question he had been dying to ask. "So Naruto," Jiraiya began, Naruto glanced at Jiraiya the second he did he could tell from the perverted smile exactly what he was about to ask. "You got a girl…I mean this girl Sakura sounds cute… why haven't… you know… gone for it?" Jiraiya asked lecherously.

Naruto scoffed at the Toad Sage, "Sakuras' only interested in Sasuke and besides I don't think the idiot persona that I have been putting up just to keep people underestimating me so I could have the element of surprise helped very much to win her over." Naruto said with a sigh.

Jiraiya nodded at that, "looks like all of those years of acting like a fool are coming around to bite you in the ass." Jiraiya stated, Naruto sighed once again, "yeah, that might have been a poor judgment call; I mean most of my enemies will probably be foreign any way and no ninja worth there kunai actually puts much stock in academy records because the smart ones like me tend to hid their full potential." Naruto admitted.

The two then entered the secluded training ground, Jiraiya turned to Naruto and stood a few feet away from him with his arms crossed.

"Well form what you tell me than I can assume you got all the basics so I think you can never go wrong with some elemental training first." Jiraiya stated Naruto nodded in agreement, "so tell me… what is your affinity?" Jiraiya asked Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment.

"_Hmm I could tell him all five, I mean not even the old man who is called the professor even knew that the Rinnegan gave the user all five elemental affinities and I highly doubt the perv would know anything about the Rinnegan." _Naruto surmised before he gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Eh… I have all five," Naruto informed as if it was no big deal, Jiraiya went wide eyed at this, _"all five… there is only one person I have ever known to have all five…. What could this mean, could it just be a quirk of the genes or does Naruto possess what I think he possesses?" _Jiraiya questioned.

"Well that's all well in good, but I just thought of something better," Jiraiya told Naruto, Naruto motioned for the Toad Sage to continue, _"only one way to find out I guess without openly asking him…if this works and proves my theory correct, than I have no idea what that would mean for our future." _Jiraiya mused in thought.

Jiraiya then summoned the summoning contract of the toads, Naruto's eyes went wide at seeing this, _"what the hell…we only just met, does he really trust me that much… or is there some other motive, perv what are you not telling me?"_ Naruto questioned while narrowing his eyes behind his aviators.

Jiraiya rolled out the scroll to reveal all the names of the previous summoners, "Now all you got to do is sign your name with blood and put imprint your finger prints with blood on the contract," Jiraiya informed, Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, "blood? Are we summoning toads or satin?" Naruto questioned, Jiraiya shook his fist at Naruto, "just do it!" Jiraiya yelled in mock anger.

Naruto shrugged and pricked his fingers with a tooth, Naruto attempted to sign his name but every time he did so the blood would evaporate. He tried again and still the blood evaporated, he tired once more and still the same results. Naruto huffed in annoyance and turned towards the Sennin who was nodding to himself as if something had just been confirmed for him.

"_The same thing with Nagato happened when he tried to sign the contact, I had wanted him to sign because I felt that with his Rinnegan than he would be a worthy successor, but that proved wrong when we found out about his ability to summon creatures without the need of a contract." _Jiraiya mused.

Naruto looked confused, "Oi Pervy Sage… what's going on?" Naruto asked with a little annoyance in his voice.

Jiraiya looked serious at Naruto, "Naruto…care to take off your sunglasses and channel chakra into your eyes?" The Sennin asked Naruto was taken aback by this, _"why would my inability to sign with the toads tip him off? What does he know that I don't?" _Naruto asked himself.

Naruto hesitated, _"if I don't show him than he would continue to be suspicious but if I do show him than he could help me learn about what other powers I possess, I guess if the old man trusts him than I should to." _Naruto reasoned.

Naruto first felt around for any chakra signatures nearby when he felt none, Naruto slowly put away his aviators in his coat pocket and activated his Rinnegan.

Jiraiya gasped, _"So it is true…I had suspected but sill… to see the Rinnegan again… amazing!" _Jiraiya gaped, "so there you see it…please don't tell anyone about this I would rather not have the whole of the elemental nations baring down on me to get at my eyes." Naruto asked, Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "don't worry kid your secret is safe with me, I'll even tell you one of my own just so were even." Jiraiya offered, Naruto thought about it for a moment than nodded in agreement, "well kid you're looking at the Leaf's head of the spy network, most of my job deals with planting and contacting spies in the other hidden villages and other places of importance." Jiraiya admitted, _"Hmm that is a big secret," _Naruto mused.

"Alright… so what does me having the Rinnegan have to do with me not being able to sign with the toads?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya looked thoughtful, _"I guess there is no harm in telling him about Nagato, Nagato is dead after all so what harm could be done?" _Jiraiya questioned.

"I once had a student who was a war orphan in Rain, his name was Nagato and he was the last known person to bare the Rinnegan." Jiraiya informed, Naruto was taken aback by this, _"someone else had the Rinnegan?! Why didn't Jiraiya take Nagato back to the Leaf? What happened to Nagato? Where is he now?"_ Naruto questioned, "What happened to him?" Naruto asked, "We were at war, I trained him along with two of his friends named Yahiko and Konan for around three years or so, I had to leave but I meant to return but that was before I heard about their deaths." Jiraiya said sadly.

Naruto too looked solemn; there just went possibly his only chance to get any sort of guidance with his eyes.

"However," Jiraiya perked up, "in the time that I knew Nagato we managed to unlock the first three paths of the Rinnegan." Jiraiya stated proudly.

Naruto also perked up at this new information, "three? You mean you know the next path after Preta Path?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya nodded, "I sure do, it is the reason why you can't sign a contract with a summoning clan … you don't need one!" Jiraiya said while flapping his arms in excitement.

"Really, what's it called?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya thought about it for a moment, "hmm, I think Nagato called it the Animal Path, he told me that something just clicked in his brain when he saw me summon a toad." Jiraiya informed.  
The second the words of 'Animal Path' left the Toad Sage's mouth, Naruto's mind ran on auto pilot, all he could think of was the echoing in his mind, _"Animal Path, Animal Path, Animal Path," _Naruto's Rinnegan eyes blaze while his hands motioned through the proper hand signs of the summoning technique.

Naruto flash into the hand signs and on the last sign just before he slammed his hand into the ground Jiraiya noticed, "he what are y-" but he was cut off when Naruto slammed his hand down on the ground and in the next second a huge cloud of smoke enveloped he area.

Jiraiya and Naruto both appeared on the back of an animal that they could not identify yet due to the smoke, Jiraiya shook his fist angrily at Naruto, "what the hell was that!?" Jiraiya yelled at Naruto, Naruto blinked back to reality when he heard the angered voice of the Pervy Sage.

Naruto blinked again once he noticed what he was standing on, "uh… Pervy Sage… why are we standing on an eight story tall rhino?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya shook his fist angrily again, "you little idiot, you summoned it!" Jiraiya fumed, Naruto blinked once again, his brain finally caught up with him.

"O yeah… ha I guess I can summon," Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Jiraiya shook his head at Naruto, "yeah good job kid, Now dispel him." Jiraiya said but Naruto was enraptured by something with the rhino, "P…Pervy Sage… look at its eyes? Do all my summons have eyes like that?" Naruto asked mostly to himself.

Jiraiya peered over from behind he rhino's neck to get a look at what Naruto was seeing, "huh…I guess that is strange… it is possible that when you summon a creature not contracted than they may bare eyes like yours to signify you as the summoner, but it's just a theory." Jiraiya explained nonchalantly.

After a good few more minutes of staring, Naruto dispelled the summon.

"Okay so now what, you know that I have the Rinnegan and I already have a good grasp on the elements and I can do physical exercises by myself, what can you help me with?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment until a thought struck him, "say Naruto… what do you see with those eyes of yours?" Jiraiya asked, Naruto shrugged, "when it comes to humans and animals I can see peoples chakra signatures and low level night vision." Naruto admitted, Jiraiya nodded at this, "and what else, do you see anything when looking at something natural like say a rock or a tree?" Jiraiya questioned.

Naruto reactivated his eyes and looked all about the forest around them, "yes… there is a faint green haze over everything natural but it's just barely visible." Naruto informed.

Jiraiya now had huge grin on his face, "that Naruto is called nature chakra." Jiraiya told Naruto, Naruto raised an eyebrow at this while keeping his eyes on the forest, "nature chakra… the old man told me about I once when I got curious one day and asked him sense chakra paper exists than plants have chakra right? And then he told me a little about nature chakra but not in great detail." Naruto admitted.

Jiraiya was getting excited, _"I can teach him Sage Mode! Normally it would be too dangerous for someone of his age but if he uses that Preta Path to act as a filter than he wouldn't need worry about turning into stone! And I know just the place ripe with nature chakra, I would have taught Nagato but Rain has no places rich enough with nature chakra but there is one place that I know for sure has enough nature chakra for teaching Naruto!" _Jiraiya thought to himself happily.

"Well Naruto, nature chakra as you know is the chakra found all around us in the natural world, sages learn to absorb this chakra and mix it with their own, this practice is known as Senjutsu. Normally a person wanting to become a sage would need to have a balance between their spiritual and physical energies for it to work, and even then the training is dangerous because if you flood your system with it than you would turn into stone. However you are a special case." Jiraiya explained.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, "why is that, I can feel my chakra and I can tell that my physical is nowhere near my spiritual energies, if I start training i… could…." Naruto trail off once the thought had occurred to him, "of course I could use my Petra Path to act as a filter and just expel the excess until my body adjusts to the chakra." Naruto stated.

Jiraiya nodded in satisfaction, "you got it kid, but for now let's worry about Senjutsu tomorrow today however I want you just to work on your body and exercise till you drop and then get back up and exercise some more!" Jiraiya ordered, Naruto nodded and went about pushing himself to the brink of death with physical exercise.

* * *

The next day Naruto was peering over the edge of a cliff into a seemingly bottomless gorge, "surely you can't be serous?" Naruto asked incredulously to Jiraiya, the Toad Sage nodded sagely, "I'm serous and don't call me surely." Jiraiya stated.

"But really, all the way… down there… how far do you think it is?" Naruto asked, Naruto has never been afraid of heights but it's a little different when staring into an unending abyss so you can understand his slight hesitation.

"Yes now… jump!" Jiraiya said as he pushed Naruto over the edge, "Ahhhhhhhhhh" Naruto's voice rang out as he quickly fell into the deep dark abyss, "remember to sit absolutely still!" Jiraiya called out to his falling student.

Naruto was falling down extremely fast the wind was roaring in this ears and blinding his eyes and whipping his hair, _"damn… I can't see the bottom, well better than a slow decent than ending up being a red stain on the ground." _Naruto surmised, Naruto then focused on the gravity that was forcing him to fall, he then made the force of gravity acting on his body to lessen, and he then created a layer of wind chakra around him to increase the wind resistance to lessen his momentum.

Naruto then went from falling like an ape off the empire state building into a light falling feather.

The ravine was so deep that it took Naruto the next ten minutes to reach the ground. When Naruto felt his feet touch solid ground Naruto readjusted the gravity back to normal and let he wind chakra dissipate, Naruto flared his chakra to signal to Jiraiya that he made it safely to the bottom.

It was dark, very dark, so dark that it gave a new definition to zero visibility. But almost as bad as he darkness was he quietness of it all. Not a sound, no dripping water, no chattering of insects, nothing, the walls of this cave strangely enough absorbed any and all sound. It was so quite that Naruto could hear his heartbeat, which was for Naruto; the only proof that he had that he was not dead.

Naruto activated his Rinnegan to see if he could actually just see anything, the blackness let up a little and let Naruto see just why this was a perfect place to train in Senjutsu, the walls, ground, and even air was filled with nature chakra, pure, rejuvenating, smoky black nature chakra. _"Wait… smoky black?" _Naruto questioned.

What Naruto saw was like wisps of black smoke dancing all around the bottom of the ravine, the only reason Naruto could even see the chakra was because this chakra was the darkest thing Naruto had ever seen, it was as if the darkness of a black hole became wisps of smoke.

"_The nature chakra in here must be used to the darkness; maybe nature chakra adapts and takes in the characteristics of the environment that it's in thus making the chakra become natural." _Naruto mused.

"Okay I need to sit in a meditative position and be perfectly sti-" Naruto cut himself off when he heard the sound of his voice, _"wow… you would think that your voice would carry on in an echo but…it sounds like I'm in the most cramped closet in the world." _Naruto thought.

Naruto shook of his thoughts on acoustics and began to meditate, _"okay sit perfectly still, not too hard, feeling the turn of the Earth on a regular basis helps one to center themselves…now focus on the chakra around you Naruto, feel the flow of your own…now feel the chakra around you… It feels so…quite restful and dark like a cool spring night. It seems to want to be absorbed by me, it wants to feel something else, this chakra it feels…lonely? Could this chakra actually feel lonely? I guess it makes sense, Kyuubi's always feels angry and hateful, and this place does invoke a sense of loneliness. The chakra…it feels almost desperate to be absorbed, alright Naruto let this lonesome chakra flow." _

Naruto allowed the black chakra into his system, the chakra was almost timid to enter his coils as if it was afraid to upset Naruto and make him leave. However Naruto did not leave but instead invited more of the chakra into him, suddenly the chakra rushed into Naruto like a flood gate being opened.

Naruto strained and groaned in the effort filter the nature chakra in and out of his body, for a good five hours Naruto stayed that way, Naruto was sweating and groaning from the effort, but his dedication paid off.

It seems the constant flow of nature chakra in and out of his coils repaired Naruto's muscles and strengthened his bones; Naruto could feel his physical energies become harmonized with his spiritual. Naruto could now pull in the nature chakra and be confident that it would not turn him into stone. Also the chakra around him no longer felt lonely, but content and even happy.

Naruto opened his eyes and to his surprise, Naruto could now see into the abyss. Naruto could see the wall, the ground and even the sky above. _"This is the result of me melding with the dark natured chakra; it's granted me the ability to see in the dark while in Sage Mode, I wonder what else it can do?" _Naruto mused.

Naruto slowly stood up; Naruto let his own chakra spike a little as if to tell the lonely chakra that he would return.

Naruto looked up and smirked, _"this is goanna look awesome." _Naruto thought proudly to himself.

Naruto crouched down in a kneeling position, he spiked his Senjutsu infused chakra, Naruto's chakra presence alone made the ground quake and crack underneath him, Naruto began to weaken gravity's hold on him making a few rocks levitate a few inches off the ground all around him. Suddenly the blackness of Naruto's Senjutsu infused chakra began to swirl all around him. Naruto pumped chakra into the required muscles and bones and flew out of the ravine while breaking the sound barrier and causing a massive shock wave that was felt for miles in all directions.

* * *

Jiraiya was taking a nap beside a tree, Naruto had been at it for five hours and still he was not out of the bottomless ravine yet, Jiraiya groaned in his sleep with a perverted grin on his face probably dreaming about what you would expect Jiraiya of the Sennin to dream about.

That was when he felt it, a sudden shock wave and the loudest booming sound Jiraiya had ever heard, Jiraiya sprang to his feet, _"that came from the ravine!" _Jiraiya worried.

Jiraiya ran to the ravine at top speeds, he had just made it to see what looked like a billowing smoke cloud made from the blackest smoke Jiraiya had ever seen. Jiraiya squinted his eyes to see better, suddenly the top of the smoke cloud grew incredibly large, the blackened wisps of smoke swirled around something Jiraiya could not see, the cloud grew larger and larger, so large that it now blotted out the sun.

Gradually the black wisps began to take a shape and a dark figure was beginning to be gradually revealed. After a few moments what was once a shapeless mass of the darkest cloud Jiraiya had even seen, now formed into large wings three time the size of the black clad individual, these wings where akin to dragon wings every time they flapped the wings moved as if they were made of a gas rather than a solid.

Naruto looked down to see a gaping Toad Sage, Naruto allowed his dragon wings made from the Senjutsu chakra to flap a few long flaps for dramatic affect.

Naruto then dove down to the ground in front of Jiraiya.

Jiraiya saw he strange figure dive bomb towards him, Jiraiya tensed up and readied himself for a possible fight, the figure landed hard on the ground causing another trimmer but was only felt within he immediate facticity. As the figure landed the blackened wisps of smoke like gas engulfed he figure once more and swirled around him.

The feeling of power behind whoever was causing this made him take a step back. _"It feels like Senjutsu but it's so different is this really Naruto?" _Jiraiya questioned.

The wisps of smoke then began to dissipate as it appears that the energy causing it is being drawn back in, the smoke cleared to reveal Naruto who for the most part looked the same, however there were two key differences, the most noticeable was Naruto's eyes, and the Rinnegan was now the darkest black only rivaled by a black hole. The ring patterns took a dark grey shade which contrasted slightly with the rest of his eyes. The veins around Naruto's eyes were bulged out as well now so much like a Hyuga would have it when there Byakugan would be active, but enough to notice that the vines around his eyes where now blackened as well.

Naruto's second change was a more permanent change, because of the Senjutsu running in and out of his body for hours on end to get his physical energies on par with his spiritual. Naruto had grown a few inches, nothing major but noticeable none the less, Naruto was now just as tall as Sasuke

But other than he physical changes, Naruto's aura in his Sage Mode changed as well, Naruto's energy felt calm yet powerful, sort of like a large wild animal while it would sleep. You know the large wild animal could kill you at any moment but at the same time it still looked so peaceful in its sleep.

Naruto's aura also felt akin to what one would equate to as a peaceful night, nature chakra is inherently peaceful but most is a sort of spring time or summer time peaceful that you would feel during the day. But Naruto's aura was that of the night, of the nocturnal were the moon ruled and the wolves howled. The darkness of the ravine had put the nature chakra in an eternal night and melded the nature of the chakra to the darkness of its surrounding.

Naruto looked around and inspected himself, "wow…my head… this feeling…I feel so calm, in control and strangely warm." Naruto said with awe in his voice.

Jiraiya grinned at Naruto, "yeah that's Senjutsu for yeah; It seems that wherever you first learn Sage Mode is where you would get the abilities unique to your specific Sage Mode state." Jiraiya informed.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, eyes of the void staring at him, "now let's see what this can do!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

* * *

For the next month Naruto and Jiraiya had been working on three things, the standard near suicidal physical exercises, working on Naruto's Animal Path, and refining Naruto's Sage Mode.

Naruto had progressed well with his Animal Path, Naruto can move through the hand signs with practiced ease and soon he may not even need them. Naruto had tied to summon different creature but so far the only things he can summon is the rhino from his first attempt who he has just stuck to calling him rhino, and a giant two headed dog, in a spar in which involved one of Jiraiya's toads and the giant two headed dog, its ability to multiply after a what would be a killing blow became known after the toad summon stabbed a sword into the heart of the large dog summon. This caused Naruto to affectionately name this summon, the Hydra Dog.

However Naruto's Sage Mode was going slow, Naruto still had to sit perfectly still for about two minutes for only ten minutes of Sage Mode but if he only used Taijutsu than he could last for about twenty maybe thirty minutes. But for the way Naruto fights when he comes across a hard opponent it would only give him ten minutes. But hey it was only a month and considering it usually takes people years to master Senjutsu, Naruto's progress would be astronomical in comparison.

* * *

Now was the day of the final exams, excitement was in the air, people were in walking into arena filled with anticipation.

Naruto was slowly making his way towards the arena; he was walking unnoticed thanks to his new attire by the group of civilians in front of him. "So you bet on the Hyuga kid for the first match right, I mean it's a garneted win with that _thing _being his opponent." Said a tall 'gentlemen.' The man walking alongside him shrugged, "yeah maybe, but just think about it on the off chance that he does win than I would be rolling in it for a good while, I mean the payoff outweighs the risks." He said, the previous man just crossed his arms, "well either way the brat better give me a good show, it's the least it could do for us allowing it to live this long." Said the same tall man.

"_They expect me to give them a show do they? Well sorry to disappoint but I don't feel like playing the court jester today." _Naruto seethed internally.

Naruto walked past the group of ingrates only to run into one of his teammates, Naruto was deep in thought, and by deep thought he was admiring his aviators again whilst humming 'Danger Zone' to himself. When he bumped into a familiar mop of pink hair.

"O sorry I…" Sakura trailed off, "Naruto?" Sakura asked, Sakura had been expecting Naruto to arrive just like he always did, in an annoying orange hangman's noose jump suit and bounding down the road excitedly telling everyone about how he's going to beat Neji.

But instead she ran into a black clad, aviator wearing and quite Naruto.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto greeted warmly, Sakura was still dumbstruck by this new Naruto so she just nodded dumbly and gave her intelligent response of, "uh hi."

It was then when Ino, who had been walking to the arena with her made her presence known, "wow Naruto black actually looks good on you!" Ino praised, Naruto smirked at her, "well thanks I would love to stand here and talk about how good I look but I got to get to a Hyuga to destroy," Naruto said right before diapering in a swirl of fire.

"Uh... that was Naruto right?" Sakura asked Ino looked thoughtful for a moment before she just shrugged.

* * *

In the arena all the contestants were standing before the proctor Hayate. The crowed was exited and very loud, Naruto looked at all of the other contestants. There was Sasuke to his right who was also clad in his own bit of black.

There was Temari to his left who was sending Naruto not so subtle glances which Naruto had noticed but decided not to act on it until they got into the competitors box.

The arrogant Hyuga that Naruto planned on destroying as fast as humanly possible as to stick it to man sort to speak.

There was Gaara who was looking more and more unstable by the minute, Kankuro who had his arms crossed but a slight nervous look showing on his face.

Tenten who Naruto still planned on talking to after the exams, Lee who was doing something youthful I'm sure.

It was then when the Hokage made his voice heard by all in the arena, "it is good to see you all here, I thank you all for showing your support to our contestants in the finals of these chunin selection exams, and too our contestants I will tell you to do your villages proud. Now let the finals of the chunin selection exams begin!"

The crowd went wild, "Good speech Hokage-Dono, short and to the point." Said the Kazekage, "thank you although I did that more for my benefit, I too am excited for these matches." The Hokage said with a chuckle.

Hayate then spoke to the genin, "will only Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga please remain in the arena, and the rest of you will go to the competitors' box."

All other genin left the area and now only Naruto and Neji remained, The two stood opposite from each other, there was silence in the crowd, Neji smirked at Naruto, "I understand that you hold great power and it would be foolish to underestimate you, however it seems like fa-"But Neji was cut short of his rant when Hayate's voice rang out. "Begin!" At that moment Naruto drained the chakra from his gravity weights, he then used his doubled speed to appear in a blur in front of Neji.

Neji had no chance to do anything when Naruto sent a lightening infused fist into Neji's chest; the Hyuga was sent flying into the wall.

The entire crowed gasped, Naruto stood there unmoving in the same position he was in that made Neji fly so violently away.

The arena was silent, the wind was the only thing to be heard, Neji's body was racket with electric shocks that had he not been a ninja, he would have died.

Neji was stuck to the wall, his body twitched involuntarily with the near lethal volts attacking his nervous system, Neji was regretting letting his guard down, he should have taken his own advice and not underestimated Naruto. Now he was as good as dead if Naruto decided to go that route.

But despite the pain, despite the odds Neji wanted to win.

Neji used his will power and as much chakra control he could muster, Neji was able to stave off unconsciousness. Neji struggled to regain control of his body, once Neji regained control of his right arm, it was like a snowball effect, and soon Neji was able to regain more and more of his body.

Neji groaned in pain as he slowly walked out of the small creator in the wall that he had made with his body. Neji stood to his feet but then doubled over in pain when he felt the effects of Naruto's punch on his chest. His nerves where haywire at the time so the damage to Neji's ribs went unnoticed until he regained control, it was only the adrenaline and willpower that kept him from passing out again.

"_He must have broken at least half of my ribs, I might have internal bleeding for all I know… and even if I don't, I can feel a rib being dangerously close to my lungs and heart." _Neji thought over his condition.

Naruto's respect of Neji grew slightly, that punch was meant to knock him out with one hit and he could have done it too but it seems Neji was not giving up and he respected that, for a guy hooked on fate he was a stubborn bastard.

Naruto smiled at Neji, "Neji I respect you for not wanting to give up, however there will be missions in your future when a tactical retreat is needed when faced with a foe who you had underestimated and need to rethink your strategy." Naruto said, Naruto was trying to give Neji a better chance at becoming chunin, and Naruto felt that it wasn't right that Neji had to suffer in his career just because Naruto did not want to play ball with this farce.

Neji's mind was a fog, he had got up to stand and fight on sheer will power and instincts, however Neji could not help but agree, he was injured badly and possibly even critically if he agitated his condition, if he knew how to open the eight gate than he could recover from this and could continue to fight even if it would probably just worsen his condition.

Neji coughed out a bit of blood, Neji looked at the ground where his blood had pooled at his feet, _"shit…I am bleeding internally." _Neji thought groggily.

Neji looked at Naruto who was walking towards him, Naruto was within arms reach of the Hyuga, Neji wanted to strike him but he could not move for some reason, it was as if his body weighed a lot heavier or he was in a deep ocean and the pressure was weighing him down.

Naruto leaned in closer to Neji and whispered so only he could hear, "Neji… you are not giving up, you are injured and need immediate medical treatment, I suggest you walk out of here with some dignity rather than on a stretcher." Naruto whispered, Neji wanted to argue but his argument died in this mouth as he was racket with another bout of coughs that left Neji tasting copper.

Neji merely took a shaky nod, he then turned towards the proctor, "proctor… I cannot go on… I am injured to greatly." Neji said with shame.

Hayate coughed while nodding, "Winner by forfeit, Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate called out.

The entire crowd was silent as they watched Neji slowly walk away with two medics healing his wounds as he walked on his shaky legs.

Naruto smirked at the stunned silence in the crowed, Naruto walked over to the wealth section of the arena with his arms stretched out wide, "are you not entertained?!" Naruto's voice rang out for all to hear, "are you not entertained?!" Naruto repeated, Naruto shook his head and spit at the ground in disgust at the crowed.

The crowed began to murmur amongst themselves once Naruto began to walk into the competitors' box.

* * *

The Hokage and Kazekage was silent as well, one stunned at the boys' skill and the other stunned at the ruthlessness of the display. The silence was broken when the Kazekage chuckled, "it looks like that boy didn't want to give us a show." The Kazekage pointed out, Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "Naruto has always never been one to show off." The Hokage admitted, the Kazekage nodded at this, "yes but it looks as if the very idea of this final stage disgusts him." Said the Kazekage, Sarutobi nodded, "yes he had expressed his distaste to me earlier I think his exact words were 'I'm a ninja not a circus lion,' and he also admitted that he would rather earn a promotion years from now after a good fight rather than right now after flaunting his powers." Hiruzen stated. The Kazekage chuckled again at that, "he sounds like my kind of shinobi." Admitted the Kazekage, the Hokage nodded in agreement.

* * *

Naruto began to walk towards the competitors' box, he glanced at the stands where he could see team ten and eight along with Sakura, the only ones who did not have a stunned look on their face was Shino, Shikamaru, and Hinata. Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw Shikamaru nodding his head as if he had just been confirmed something, _"how long have you know I have been holding back?" _Naruto wondered,_ "No matter after today there won't be any reason not to show them a little bit of my true power." _Naruto thought.

Naruto made his way to the other competitors; Naruto smirked when he saw the stunned face of Sasuke and Tenten, _"how did the dobe do that? Either the Hyuga was weak or Naruto truly is stronger than he lets on." _Sasuke thought, _"Neji is one of the most talented genin that I know… how could he go down with only one punch?!" _Tenten worried.

"Dobe… how did you do that?" Sasuke asked, Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, "didn't you have your Sharingan on?" Naruto asked, Sasuke scoffed, "no I mean how did _you _of all people do that?" Sasuke questioned again, Naruto put a hand to his chin in while feigning deep thought, "you know…I have no idea!" Naruto exclaimed sarcastically.

Sasuke shook his head in annoyance, "whatever dobe I'm still better than you." Sasuke said, Naruto smirked at him, "yeah keep telling yourself that," Naruto stated. Sasuke was about to retort but his name was called along with Tenten.

Sasuke gave Naruto one last glare before heading down, Tenten began to walk behind him and glanced back at Naruto as well, Naruto lowered his aviators and gave Tenten a wink which made her feel a little red on her cheeks.

Sasuke and Tenten were facing opposite from each other, both prepared to fight.

* * *

Naruto leaned up against the railings next to Temari who gave him a sideways glance before turning her attention to the coming match. Naruto gave her a fox like grin which she noticed in her peripherals, Temari turned to him with an annoyed expression on her face, "what are you grinning at perv?!" Temari fumed, Naruto smirked at her, "o nothing, I was just wondering who you think will win?" Naruto asked Temari narrowed her eyes at him before she huffed and turned to the match that had picked up.

* * *

Sasuke made the first move and attempted to rush her and end it as quickly as Naruto ended his; however he was forced to back off once a hail of kunai and shuriken flew right at him. Sasuke dodged back and took out his own kunai to deflect the projectiles that managed to sail farther. Sasuke was now mentally thanking Kakashi for working him so hard in there spars, Sasuke was able to fully mature his Sharingan during a particularly intense spar.

Sasuke ran to his right in an attempt to flank the kunoichi however in was not so when two fuma shuriken forced him to duck, Tenten was able to keep Sasuke at bay for a good two minutes with a horde of projectiles and explosives. Making Sasuke pay dearly for frontal assault attempts by cutting his limbs with near misses, but the one flaw in Tenten's strategy is that her mode of attack requires a finite resource to allow her to continue to fight and also she is vulnerable for the few seconds it takes her to pull out the large scroll that creates her ultimate attack.

Tenten watched on as Sasuke was panting after dodging another volley of projectiles, _"now's my chance to end this." _Tenten thought, she then began to bring out a rather large scroll that will allow her to basically throw everything she has left at the Uchiha. However those few seconds it takes her to ready her attack left her exposed which Sasuke greatly abused.

Sasuke rushed Tenten and managed to get in her guard, Tenten noticed him at the last second and was able to block his kunai with her own, Sasuke then sent a kick with his left leg to her own legs, Tenten dodged back allowing Sasuke to press on with another slash with his kunai, Tenten dodged again to her right, Sasuke rushed her again and pressed on he slashed at her again and again, he never gave her any respite.

Tenten jumped back in an attempt to get some distance, just before she hit the ground she saw two fireballs coming at her. Tenten had no choice but to dodge to her left, Sasuke had planned this and was already there with a burst of speed and sent a hard kick to her head. Tenten was stunned by the sudden blow to her head and stumbled back; Sasuke once again pressed on and sent her three fast jabs to her chest and stomach. Tenten wavered again and Sasuke swept her legs under her feet making her fall to the ground, Sasuke grabbed a nearby kunai, Sasuke pinned down Tenten with his knee and brought the kunai to her exposed neck.

"Give up," Sasuke simply said, Tenten at first wanted to retaliate but some pressure on her neck caused by the cold steel on her throat made her rethink her that idea. Tenten looked angry because of her loss but nonetheless spoke up, "fine… I yield." Tenten said angrily.

* * *

While the fight was taking place Naruto was still trying to have a conversation with Temari, "well I don't know much about Tenten but I know Sasuke is above average when it comes to a genin maybe even a solid chunin." Naruto said, Temari looked sidelong at Naruto, Temari had not really had a conversation with a boy around her own age save for her brothers due to Gaara scaring the living shit out of everyone. Temari had a few servants because of her father being the Kazekage and all of them were female but even then the conversations were mostly one sided because servants were never comfortable with being friendly with their bosses they always said that it wasn't proper.

Temari did not really think Naruto was all that annoying actually and he was kind of cute in a sort of feral looking way with his whiskers and sharp canines in her opinion. But she had a lot on her mind at the moment, first was her match with Rock Lee, she did some research over the break and found that he was probably one of the worst matchups she could have gotten. Sure she could keep him at bay for a time with wind jutsu but if he managed to dodge them which she expected that he could, than her reserves won't last very long, she had above average chunin level reserves right now but still could not hope to win a war of attrition against a stamina freak.

There was also the Gaara and the invasion that was also on her mind, she was worried that this invasion would be the final nail in Gaara's sanity and she would lose her little brother forever. Also she was worried for her other brothers' and her own safety, war was hell and she knew it so there was no guarantee you would be walking back home or coming home in a cart full of corpses.

Naruto saw the worry in her face, the few times that Naruto had seen Temari over the break when he would pass her on the street to go about his own business, she always exuded an air of a confident and proud kunoichi, he never pegged her to be one to start shaking in her sandals at the thought of losing in the finals that is why Naruto wondered that maybe she was worried for a different reason.

So Naruto being Naruto wanted to make her feel better by getting her mind off of things and also flirt a bit, hey Temari was cute as well could you blame the guy? "So Temari," Naruto began catching her attention away from the match, "are all Sand kunoichi as beautiful as you or are you just the acceptation?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin, Temari was taken aback by this, never before had anyone called her beautiful except her hired help but she always assumed that they were just saying that because they were her servants.

Temari blushed at this, "I…uhh…umm" was Temari's intelligent answer. Naruto looked confused, "has no one ever told you that? Is the sand storms where you live so common that it allows zero visibility all the time?" Naruto asked genuinely confused, he was confused because you would think that if a girl looked like Temari than she would be used to being hit on but instead she was sputtering and stuttering like those words where so alien when associated with her.

Temari was taken aback again she saw the confusion on Naruto's face, Temari looked down in shame, "no, no one has ever told me that before," she reluctantly admitted, Naruto looked back at the fight that had wounded down now to Sasuke pining Tenten down and holdings a kunai to her throat. "Well it's true," Naruto said, Temari looked up at Naruto her blush still there but she now had a slight smile to her face. She had just been told for the first time ever by a boy that she was beautiful and meant it. She was too proud to tell him how much it meant to her but Naruto could see her appreciation, Temari then was reminded about a cold hard truth that made her eyes fill with regret, by the end of today this boy who was the first one to ever acknowledge her as not just a strong ninja but also as a woman will most likely die today.

And that made her feel horrible, _"hey thanks for being the first one to call be attractive o by the way here a kunai in your back for your troubles." _Temari thought in disgust with herself for her part in the invasion to come.

Naruto saw the look of regret in her face, that alone sent red flags in Naruto's head, he found it strange already that the Sand would allow there already unstable Jinchuuriki to attend a chunin exams outside of the village, let alone attend one at all, they should just field promote him instead rather than risk the safety of civilians and other shinobi alike.

The increased ANBU in the area, although a bit odd, could just be attributed by the fact that there are more people this year due to the last Uchiha being a combatant along with two Jinchuuriki attending as well.

But it was the look of regret that Temari accidently let flash across her face that made him begin to connect dots.

"_First there was Gaara being present in the exams in the first place, then the appearance of Orochimaru and Sasuke's seal on his neck that is obviously meant to whether away his mind to possibly turn Sasuke into some sort of slave to command. Then Sound ninja's showed up saying that they were going to kill Sasuke, just Sasuke that was not an attempt to get my team out of the ruining that was an order. Maybe Orochimaru was testing Sasuke to see if he used the seals power and thus exposing him to the possible addictive qualities of it. Then Temari looks regretful…something isn't sitting right with me…whatever is going on they won't get the better of us I'm sure of it."_ Naruto's mind flashed though that and hundreds of other scenarios in a few seconds. He did not even notice the crowds roaring at Sasuke's victory.

Sasuke walked back up to the competitors' box with a smirk on his face. He saw Naruto look in deep thought, he wanted to approach him and brag about his win but then he remembered to not annoy someone deep in thought.

Sasuke may be very proud and borderline arrogant, but spending a month getting his ass kicked by Kakashi had made Sasuke lose the edge of the worst of his arrogance.

Temari and Lee's fight was called up, Lee shouted something or other about youth and being made to fight a most youthful and proud kunoichi.

Temari only drew out her fan fully open, she wanted to end this quick and not show off most off her abilities. She hoped that by the time the invasion starts than most of her chakra that she would be using in this fight would come back to her.

* * *

Hayate coughed in his hand, "begin," Hayate said, Temari swung her fan making Lee dig his feet in the ground and cause him to make a two meter long trench in the ground, Temari was taken aback, "why did you not fly?" Temari asked Lee just smiled a broad smile at her, "by the power of youth of course." Lee stated like it was a well-known fact, Temari blinked once then twice, _"what the hell does that mean?" _She asked herself, Lee then rushed her quickly and jumped in the air in an attempted to send her flying as well with his own flying kick.

Temari saw the opening and slashed her fan again, Lee crashed into a wave of cutting winds that sent him flying into the opposite wall of the arena. Much like Neji, Lee made a small creator in the wall but luckily for him there was no lightning infused fist involved so he was able to recover quickly.

"I was careless in that attack, thank you for reminding me to keep my feet firmly on the ground!" Lee shouted, Temari cursed herself, _"what am I going to do… if this brat gets under my guard I'm screwed! All I got is the hope that my wind will be enough to maybe knock him out if I force him to jump again." _Temari thought, that gave Temari an idea, Lee then rushed her again Temari sent another gust of wind at him, the wind was enough to make Lee stop in his tracks until it died down, while Lee was fighting against the wind, Temari brought out a Kunai with an explosive tag on it, once the winds died down Lee once again rushed Temari.

Temari threw the explosive tag in front of Lee, Lee instinctively jumped back to avoid it, Temari smirked at his mistake, she then sent a powerful gust of wind that sent Lee once again into the wall of the arena, Temari then began her next phase of her plan.

Temari sent a gust of wind out of her fan and before he wind reached the explosive tag, Temari activated it; the fire from the explosive tag was carried by the wind and enhanced Temari's attack. The wind enhanced fireball barreled it's way to Lee, Lee was just barely able to roll out of the way before he was engulfed in flames.

In the competitors' box Naruto was smiling, _"a clever use of explosive tags, if Lee had been any slower than she would have already won, so she is smart to go along with her power and looks." _Naruto mused in thought.

In the arena Lee and Temari where still playing there little game of dodge the wind jutsu, Lee could have ended it earlier than this but he felt it would not be very youthful of him to not give Temari a chance to showcase her skills, unlike Naruto who's actions had not been youthful at all. But his opinion changed once he overheard the conversation with him and Temari, he thought that calling her beautiful was indeed youthful, so Lee was confused by this, was Naruto a youthful soul or not?

Lee decided that he needed to keep his strength for the other rounds especially if he was to fight against Naruto or Sasuke.

Lee dodged another gust of wind, Temari was exposed on her left side so Lee blurred to her flank, Temari did not have time to respond, Lee was able to get under her guard and plant a solid punch to her left shoulder which sent her flying away a few feet. Temari's shoulder went numb from pain which made her lose grip on her fan when she flew away.

Lee was upon her in as soon as she hit the floor, Lee held a stance and was ready for anything; Lee naturally did the youthful thing and let the girl rise to her feet. Temari rubbed her shoulder and scowled at him, Temari prided herself on her tactical mind and prowess with her wind affinity. She was proud and stubborn at times but she knew the value of a tactical retreat and besides she needed her strength for the invasion.

Temari raised her good arm, "Procter, I cannot go farther, I concede." Temari announced Hayate coughed again before announcing the winner, "winner by forfeit…Rock Lee!" Hayate declared.

The crowd applauded and cheered at the display, not as loudly for the last Uchiha but it was respectable. Lee gave a nice guy pose to everyone in the arena while the cheers of his sensei drowned out most of the other cheers.

Naruto looked on in pride for his eccentric friend, he knew that he had held back and was pleased that he was honorable and let Temari show off her skills as well, Naruto still felt bad for ruining it for Neji but then again he would be giving the people that made his life miserable entertainment and he figured that beating him when he was just a toddler would be all the entertainment he would allow.

But then again he also wanted to gage Sasuke's progress as well and Naruto figured that if he fought him than he would allow the fight to go on for a while just for Sasuke's sake he like Sasuke more than he hated the villagers at the moment so he would allow it.

As for Lee, Naruto was aware that Lee could open some of the inner gates and would most likely be faster than him, so a fast win would probably not be best he could possibly kill him. So Naruto would just have to be forced to keep his distance with several ninjutsu and if it came down to it, gradually make Lee's center of gravity heavier, Lee would just blame that he underestimated the inner gates and attribute it to fatigue.

Gaara on the other hand, well that was more complicated, as a fellow jinchuuriki Naruto felt a bond with Gaara, a sort of kinship. He wanted to help Gaara but at the same time if it came to it, instinctual kinship be damned if Gaara threatened the village he would end him if given no other choice. But the thought of that made Naruto cringe, Naruto could sense the chakra in his seal, Gaara's seal was little more than a glorified storage seal, Naruto figured that Gaara was meant to be some sort of secret weapon at the time and so Sand did not bother to ask outside help with something so important. Naruto was regretting not learning any Fuuinjutsu and instead just focus on the Animal Path and Senjutsu along with physical exercises.

Naruto snapped back to attention when he heard boos from the crowed; Naruto looked confused until he heard Hayate say, "Are you sure?" Naruto looked overt to the combatant that he was looking at, "yeah I'm sure, I forfeit," Kankuro said. Hayate coughed into his arm, "Winner by forfeit is Gaara!" Hayate announced.

* * *

The Hokage looked at the Kazekage, "do you believe any of the genin deserves a promotion Kazekage-Dono?" Asked Hiruzen, the Kazekage hummed, "my Temari showed good tactical knowledge with using that explosive tag to enhance her wind attacks as well she knows the value of a tactical retreat. As with your Uzumaki, I am uncertain, he was quick and efficient yes and many people including myself appreciate the strait and to the point method, however we still don't know enough information to make a decision yet, maybe if he is forced to draw out a fight than we could see more of his skill. As for your Uchiha he showed a fair amount of skill but his opponent was hardly a good match up against him." The Kazekage answered.

The Hokage nodded at his assessment, "yes and Rock Lee did win but however he was easily tricked in the match that could have cost him his life if he was any less skilled, Tenten showed her prowess with her weapons and even if she lost and knew that her match up was fairly one sided, she did however last much longer and could have won if she had more close combat skills." Hiruzen supplied.

The Kazekage grunted in agreement, "so we shall asses them farther and make a decision later," said the Kazekage, Sarutobi smiled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

It was intermission now and Naruto and Sasuke were visited by the rookie nine in the competitors' box, most of them were looking at Naruto strangely.

"What the hell was that Naruto, sense when could you knock a guy out like Neji in one blow?!" Kiba questioned loudly, everyone from the rookie nine including Sasuke and Kakashi who had come to congratulate his students leaned in closer showing their curiosity. Naruto looked on at all of them and sighed _"well I guess I had already told myself that dobe Naruto was now dead… no reason to string them all along anymore."_ Naruto thought solemnly, Naruto crossed his arms and scoffed at Kiba, "you should listen to Akamaru more Kiba." Naruto said, Kiba looked up at Akamaru who was on his usual perch of Kiba's head.

Akamaru barked telling Kiba that he warned him that Naruto was strong. Kiba scoffed at the both of them, "yeah right I bet that was a fluke." Kiba said stubbornly while Sasuke secretly nodded in agreement.

If they could see Naruto's eyes under his aviators then they would see two annoyed eyes rolling. "Really Kiba just because I didn't want to show off at the academy doesn't mean that I wasn't strong." Naruto informed, that was when Ino interjected, "yeah right you were dead last no way you are as good as Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled. Naruto rubbed his temple in annoyance. "And that's what I wanted you to believe;" Naruto said with a sigh, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this, "why would you want to hid your powers." Sasuke asked genuinely curious, Sasuke was always of the mind that power was important and it only grew when his clan was killed. Sasuke would never admit it but whenever he was praised by the his teacher at the academy, he knew that half of it was just because of his name but still sometimes he liked to think back and pretend that his mom was still alive and giving him those praises. So for someone to go out of their way to purposely stay under the radar like that was in direct contrast to what he had always done.

Naruto looked at Sasuke like he had just grown a second head, "I don't understand Sasuke… we are ninja, deception is part of our trade and our greatest tool, the only reason I am telling you know is because dobe Naruto served his purpose and is no longer needed." Naruto said evenly.

Everyone save for Shikamaru, Shino, and Kakashi who saw and agreed with Naruto's logic was taken aback.

"So everything you did and said was a lie!" Sakura shouted, Sakura felt hurt because she thought back to the time Naruto saved her in the forest, _"was that why you save me? Not because we are friends but because you see me as some tool with a purpose!" _Sakura thought.

Naruto was taken aback by her accusation, "of course not the only thing I lied about was my intellect and skill!" Naruto retorted, Sakura just shook her head at Naruto, "but you still lied…Sasuke and I are your teammates we should have known!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto sighed, "yes I did but there are only a select few people who know my full potential," Naruto then looked over at Kakashi, "I was going to inform you as well sensei about my full potential, but I cannot tell you guys the details because my true powers are an S-ranked secret." Naruto informed.

Now everyone looked confused, _"could Naruto have full control of the Kyuubi?" _Thought Kakashi, "Is it really S-ranked?" Shikamaru asked, Naruto nodded at him, "we can't let anyone know about my true powers just yet, I am still in a state where most elite ninja can take me out and so it would be best if none save for the people I have already informed know." Naruto explained.

The rookie nine nodded some like Shino, Shikamaru, Kakashi, and Hinata. Agreed that it was smart to keep full potential secret especially if said power could catch the eye of other villages. Others like Kiba, Akamaru, and Sasuke were just confused about this, in their minds if you had power than it was your rite to flaunt it. Sakura who was hurt at first that Naruto did not trust her enough with this secret reluctantly saw the logic in Naruto's reasoning while Ino was still in denial.

After a few more minutes of conversation the rookie nine left along with Kakashi.

* * *

The spectators began to walk back into their seats after the intermission; Hayate stepped forward and announced the next matchups.

"The next round will be Naruto Uzumaki against Sasuke Uchiha!" Hayate declared before a bout of coughing took him again.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke who intern smirked, "Let's see if you are just all talk dobe." Sasuke jibed. Naruto gave him a smirk of his own, "we shall see Sasuke, and I hope you improved because I will hate to have to ruin the fun again for all those ungrateful bastards in the stand." Naruto retorted.

They both made their way into the arena staring each other down a cry of, "go Sasuke-kun," could be heard from the many fangirls in the crowd. Naruto scoffed at them.

"Are the combatants ready?" Hayate asked after a few coughs, both ninja nodded, "then…begin!" Hayate cried.

Sasuke made the first move and rushed Naruto with the intent to gage his taijutsu skills, Naruto used a modified version of the academy taijutsu style, he wants to eventually crate his own that will allow him to incorporate his speed and strength along with subtle usage of both gravity manipulation and his Preta Path.

Sasuke used the standard Uchiha interceptor style that relied on the Sharingan to be affective and to be able to intercept and counter an opponent.

Sasuke leapt at Naruto and sent a fast punch to Naruto's head, Naruto dodged it and countered with a kick to the ribs, and Sasuke blocked the kick with his left hand and spun around to roundhouse kick Naruto in the gut.

Naruto stepped back to avoid the kick, Sasuke saw his moment of opportunity and attempted to use the same method of overpowering his opponent with fast and hard kicks and punches that he used on Tenten.

But his plan was abruptly halted when Naruto went up in smoke when his fist connected, _"shit when did he… damn when I spun around." _Sasuke thought, Sasuke jumped out of the way in time when Naruto suddenly burst form the ground and attempted to uppercut Sasuke.

Sasuke landed on the ground and sent a large fireball at Naruto, Naruto clapped his hands together and a larger wave of wind caught the fireball and overpowered it, now an even larger fireball was hurtling towards Sasuke, Sasuke jumped into the air to avoid the fireball.

The fireball crashed to the ground, but Sasuke was still in the air, Naruto used this time jump into the air and try to land a kick to the exposed side of Sasuke but Sasuke saw him coming and flung a kunai at Naruto forcing him to back off until Sasuke landed.

Naruto was upon him the second he hit the ground, Naruto sent a punch at Sasuke which he blocked with his forearm, Sasuke winched in pain when Naruto's punch was much harder than he anticipated, Sasuke countered by pushing trying to push Naruto off balance with the forearm that was holding back Naruto's right fist. But to his surprise Naruto leaned in further, Sasuke looked up at Naruto who was overpowering him in strength; Sasuke saw his reflection in Naruto's aviators. Sasuke saw himself being overpowered; he saw how weak he was, he hated weakness, suddenly his mind saw the reflection of a younger Sasuke who was crying in fear of his older brother.

Sasuke heard Itachi's words to him that night telling him just how weak and worthless he was. Sasuke yelled in anger and pushed Naruto back, his cruse seal twitched but he fought it.

Naruto jumped back farther, Naruto was curious what Sasuke would do next now that he was riled up for some reason. "I won't lose to you!" Sasuke yelled, Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, _"just who is Sasuke talking to right now…me… Itachi….his own personal demons?"_ Naruto wondered.

Sasuke began to form hand signs, Naruto was taken aback by what Sasuke was doing, "what the hell are you doing that's an assassination technique!" Naruto yelled, but Sasuke either did not hear him or care.

"Sasuke you do that and I will end this match right now!" Naruto yelled, Sasuke scoffed at him while the lighting in this hand began to chirp like birds. "I don't care…I can't lose to you… I won't!" Sasuke cried.

Sasuke began to sprint to Naruto at top speeds, Naruto looked angry at Sasuke, "Sasuke you have taken this too far! I am not your brother!" Naruto attempted to reason, Sasuke did not hear Naruto over the sound of his attack. Sasuke was now within striking distance of Naruto.

Naruto could hear many shinobi who knew this move tying to yell at him to doge but it was too late, "Chidori!" Sasuke cried, there was a flash of light and the dust from the area veiled the combatants in a thick cloud.

The entire crowed gasped at for all they knew was the death of one of the combatants, the light cleared and soon the dust did as well.

The crowd gasped again, when the dust cleared they could see Naruto standing there with an arm outstretched, Naruto's hand was bleeding but everyone could see the last of the lighting in Sasuke's fist that was caught in Naruto's hand be sucked into Naruto.

Sasuke and everyone who knew the technique were stunned, Sasuke looked up at Naruto in shock, "h…how?" Sasuke croaked, his throat suddenly felt dry. Naruto looked at Sasuke, "Sasuke…did you just try to kill me?" Naruto asked in an even emotionless tone.

Sasuke was taken aback by this, "did I… I mean I just…I wanted to." Sasuke stammered, he was stunned at his own actions, he had fought the curse seals transformation but it seems like its influence goes beyond physical transformations. He was told that it ate at his sanity but he never thought that it could happen to him until now.

Sasuke kneeled on the ground, he wanted to vomit, he had almost killed Naruto, he might not really like him all that much but he was Naruto, his rival, his teammate, and possibly his friend.

"I…I just saw…." Sasuke trailed off, Naruto bent down and removed his shades, "you saw your reflection didn't you," Naruto whispered, they may be in an arena with hundreds of spectators right now but this conversation was none of their damn business and promotion be dammed Sasuke was a comrade and he never turned his back on them.

Sasuke looked up in surprised, "how did you…" Sasuke trailed off when he saw Naruto's eyes, they were full of a similar self-hate that Sasuke had, "I know what it is like to hate yourself… to feel disgusted with your actions… when I killed that Sound team I squashed them like insects… you know the last thing I said to them that still scares me to this day?" Naruto asked, Sasuke shook his head, "I told them that they would die because there existence annoyed me… what kind of reason is that to kill someone…I always killed for a reason but that…sometimes I scare myself." Naruto confessed with a heavy heart.

Sasuke did not know what to say he hated himself for his lack of power but Naruto seemed to hate himself for having too much, "I don't understand if you have that kind of power you shouldn't be ashamed of it, Naruto you could get your dream at becoming Hokage with that power." Sasuke reasoned, Naruto shook his head, "I could but at what cost… at the cost of myself… at the cost of my friends? Sasuke power is something people like us need to be careful with, if you let power corrupt you than you can't achieve your second ambition now could you?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke blinked in surprise, he hadn't thought of that, he had been just focused on killing Itachi for so long that he did not care what it takes but what was the purpose of avenging you clan if you just let the future of said avenged clan to rot away and die?

Sasuke then came to a decision that day, he would avenge his clan but not let the power consume him, "but I can't have a family while he's still out there… he could come back and kill them." Sasuke said, Naruto nodded, "when the day comes… I will be there to help out with whatever back up he may have or just be there to see you kick his ass." Naruto said with a smile.

Sasuke gave a weary smile, Naruto had put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder during their heart to heart and all the while was draining him of his chakra, Sasuke then slumped over due to chakra exhaustion.

Naruto stood up and looked at the proctor, "Hayate-san… Sasuke passed out form chakra exhaustion." Naruto informed, Hayate nodded dumbly, "uhh… winner by knockout Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate informed the crowed.

The spectators did not know what to think, such a dramatic fight that ended with a conversation that none could hear and something as lame as chakra exhaustion, so they did what any mob did, they followed the first persons example, which was clap when the sound of Kakashi clapping for his students rung in the silent arena.

Naruto did not acknowledge the praise, he and Sasuke finally opened some dialogue that had made Naruto confess one of his greatest fears, himself.

Naruto made it to the competitors' box, he looked to see Kakashi giving him an eye smile, "I'm proud that you talked some sense into him." Kakashi said, Naruto nodded solemnly, "it wasn't his fault, the seal had influenced him, the seal used that moment of frustration when I was overpowering him to gain a foot hold and was only broken by the shock that his Chidori did not kill me." Naruto informed, Kakashi nodded, "yeah about that…" Kakashi began before Naruto cut him off, "not now all you need to know is that it is one of six." Naruto stated, Kakashi looked confused and was mulling over the words in his head but could not find the hidden meaning other than Naruto has six hidden powers.

* * *

In the Kages' box, Hiruzen looked on a Naruto proudly, he could see that Naruto got through to Sasuke a little bit and was happy to see that he has full mastery over his Preta Path. "An interesting skirmish…was the Uchiha trying to kill his comrade?" The Kazekage asked, Hiruzen shook his head, "I do not believe so but we can't be sure that he did not intend to do anything until we know what happened." Hiruzen informed.

"How did the Uzumaki block the Chidori? Is probably the better question." Said the Kazekage, Sarutobi nodded sagely, "how indeed."

"The next match will be against Rock Lee and Gaara." Hayate announced.

* * *

Lee ran enthusiastically down to the arena, Gaara walked but not before looking at Naruto with murder in his eyes, "I will prove my existence by killing you Uzumaki, your powers are nothing." Gaara said venomously Naruto looked sad at him when he recalled a time when he too wanted to prove his existence, he had spent a whole year on the streets when he was four going into five he had been both beaten and ignored but it was the Hokage, his surrogate grandfather that saved him from his dark fate. He owed that man a lot because when he looked at Gaara, he saw a mirror of what could have been.

Naruto looked at Gaara's retreating form and spoke up, "Shukaku cannot control you unless you let it, tell Shukaku that there are powers even beyond him."

Gaara paused in his step he heard his mother yell in his head and clutched at his head to make the pain stop.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he saw Gaara and Lee's fight, Lee was fighting admirably he had been forced to open all the gates he could and was able to break much of Gaara's defensed with sheer speed but it was not enough. Lee could only hold the gates for a short amount of time and was tiring quickly, Naruto was worried for Lee. Lee was blindsided by a rush of sand that overpowered him, the sand was about to wrap him all around him and crush him but Naruto pulled the sand back with his gravity manipulation, it was a subtle thing, only noticeable by Gaara and the ones who knew what was going on.

Lee fell to the ground, he was aching all over but thankfully no long term injuries thanks to Naruto's intervention. Lee could not stand any longer or maintain consciousness. Hayate quickly called the match and brought Lee's tired form to the nurses.

* * *

Gaara looked angrily at Naruto for depriving him of his prey, "UZUMAKI! Come I will kill you I will prove my existence!" Gaara cried manically.

Naruto appeared in a shunshin of storms which requires water, wind, and lightening. Easily one of Naruto's favorite self-made techniques for the badass points.

Naruto stared down Gaara, "I want to fight Gaara." Naruto stated, Gaara did not hear him over his mother's cries for blood.

Hayate took a careful step forward, he looked at Gaara who was frothing at the mouth then at Naruto you couldn't see his eyes but he could tell they were determined.

Hayate did not even need to ask if they were ready, "Begin!" Hayate said before getting the hell out of dodge.

Sand erupted all around Gaara and was sent sailing right at Naruto who dodged easily, Naruto had deactivated his gravity seals again because he would need to be serious for this.

Naruto dodged more sand, sand waves, sand shuriken, sand spikes, sand balls, so much damn sand Naruto could not help but agree with a certain whiney brat that almost ruined a good science fiction franchise with those annoying prequels that we should never talk about.

Naruto was fallowing the five Ds to the letter, dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge. For over five minutes Naruto was moving, testing Gaara's speed. Naruto sent an army of five hundred shadow clones to try to find a way around Gaara's defense that does not involve a crazy amount of speed.

The first waves of clones where impaled by multiple sand bullets and sand spikes, the next wave got around them but were soon crushed when they landed on a pile of sand that quickly incased them.

Naruto sent the remained of his clone army to distract Gaara while he jumped high into the air, Gaara was hurtling sand at Naruto's clones completely unaware that the real one was high in the air and rapidly multiplying the water molecules in his spit to get ready for one of his original water techniques, Naruto then was surrounded by a ring of water Naruto was very familiar with this attack so he needed no hand signs or to call out the name, Naruto raised his hands and willed the water to descend upon the unsuspecting Gaara.

Gaara had managed to dispel half of the clones on the battlefield, he was frantically searching for the one that bleeds, Gaara was so distracted that he was caught off guard when a powerful jet of water soaked his impenetrable defense and made it slower and more sluggish, Gaara had to immediately divert chakra to separate the water from his sand. In that moment Naruto's clones closed the gap and were upon him, Gaara had to focus on being attacked on all fronts, the demon yelling in his head, and separating the water from his sand.

Naruto seeing his attention diverted to multiple things at once decided to shoot more water bullets from his mouth at Gaara while he was descending. Gaara's sand was very heavy and now required a lot more concentration to move, now Naruto's clones were able to land a few hits on Gaara, Gaara was hit multiple times from all directions before he was able to disperse them all with a wave of heavy sand.

Gaara's sand armor was cracked from both the previous match and Naruto's clones, maintaining the fight had Gaara almost drained; Shukaku took this opportunity to use Gaara's fatigued state to make a push for dominance.

Gaara was staring Naruto down, it was just him and Naruto now; Gaara looked murderous until he clutched at his head and screamed in pain.

"_Damn, Shukaku is taking advantage of the situation; I cannot allow a sand demon to be in the middle of the village this fight is no longer about the chunin exams… I have to end this now!" _Naruto panicked in thought, Naruto was about to charge at Gaara and coat his entire right arm in lightning chakra, but a thick dome of sand cut off his advance.

Naruto looked at the dome and could sense the increased flux of demonic charka inside of the dome.

"I can't allow you to be free Shukaku!" Naruto yelled, Naruto then clapped his hands together; Naruto began to focus on the water that his attacks created, Naruto multiplied the water and soon a large blob of water was floating a few meters above Naruto's head, Naruto then added lightening into the water, two of the most affective elements against Gaara.

The lighting infused water looked like a condensed lighting storm, Naruto raised his hands forward and willed his attack to crash into the dome.

In response Gaara reinforced the area of which the attack would hit, but Gaara did not take into account of the flexibility of Naruto's attack, the attack quickly whipped around and landed on Gaara's left flank where he was vulnerable.

The water weakened the dome wall while the lightning was able to bore easily into the wall and strike Gaara on the left shoulder, disrupting Gaara's ability to awaken Shukaku fully for now.

Naruto looked on in apprehension; he saw his attack enter the dome, "BLOOD ITS MY BLOOD!" A bone chilling scream could be heard inside of the dome.

The dome fell away to reveal a half transformed Gaara clutching his bleeding arm with a sandy claw.

* * *

In the stands the jounin sensei along with the rookie nine (minus Sasuke,) looked on in worry for the blond, "this isn't good," Said Asuma, Ino looked back at her sensei in worry as well did the others, "what's wrong with Gaara?" asked Ino, Asuma glance over at Kakashi, Kakashi looked just as worried as the others, "Gaara is a container for the One Tailed demon Shukaku." Kakashi reported. The genin looked confused, "what does that mean?" Kiba asked, Kurenai stepped up, "a demon container otherwise known as jinchuuriki are ones who hold back a demons powers, the reason for this varies form village to village but most villages view jinchuuriki as little more than weapons." Kurenai told the genin.

"So Naruto is fighting a demon!?" Sakura yelled, Kakashi shook his head, "not at the moment, Gaara is fighting hard to maintain control but the demon is slowly wining." Kakashi admitted.

Kakashi then felt a pull on his awareness attempting to lull him to sleep, "genjutsu," Kakashi said, suddenly the arena was filled with Sound and Sand shinobi who were attacking the Leaf shinobi. "Were under attack," Yelled Asuma, Kakashi turned to Sakura, "Sakura I need you to run to the infirmary and help evacuate the contestants to the hospital!" Kakashi ordered, Sakura looked around in shock until she heard the voice of her sensei, Saskue steeled herself and nodded, "I want you to follow her and when you get to the hospital I want you to guard it from attack!" Ordered Asuma to his team, team ten compiled and followed after Sakura.

"You three go and evacuate the children in the academy!" Kurenai ordered to her team.

* * *

Naruto was looking all around at the battle in the stands, he was stunned, _"so this was the plan…Sand you traitorous bastards…. You best hope you have a good reason for this otherwise there will be no Sand village once this is over!" _Naruto fumed.

Naruto then saw Gaara's jounin sensei along with Gaara's sibling enter the arena. "Take him out of the village; we need him for the plan!" Baki ordered, Temari and Kankuro nodded and lead an unstable Gaara who was using all of his will power to get out of the village before he transformed.

"Damn it! Get back here Gaara!" Naruto yelled but his path was blocked by Baki, "sorry kid but I have orders," Baki said before he made to attack, "I have no time for you!" Naruto yelled before he blurred to Baki and sent a hard punch to his jaw forcing him to fly away.

Hayate drew his sword and landed in between Naruto and Baki, "Go after Gaara, make sure he doesn't reach the village!" Hayate ordered this time with no coughing.

Naruto was already out of the arena.

* * *

Naruto could see the battle happening all over the village, he looked to see Jiraiya's toad summons fighting the snakes near the main gate, the looked over his shoulder to see a large cube of purple, Naruto could just barely feel the old man's chakra from this distance, _"you be careful old man." _Naruto thought, Naruto landed on a roof just before making the final leap out of the village, Naruto created a legion of shadow clones, "protect Teuchi and Ayame, kill all Sound and Sand in your way!" Naruto ordered, before he leaped after the sand siblings.

Naruto was in the forest leaping across trees that was until a senbon coated in poison made him duck; Naruto could see Kankuro standing above him in a higher branch with his puppet ready to attack again. Naruto growled at him, "I have no time for you, be gone!" Naruto yelled, Kankuro felt gravity crap out on him and was sent flying into another tree, Naruto sent a white hot fireball as he was passing them into the puppet and melted it in an instant.

Kankuro was stunned; some force was still forcing him to the tree, Kankuro managed to turn his head to see the black clad back of the boy that had defeated him as if it was nothing and Kankuro suspected that it was indeed nothing.

* * *

Naruto could feel the demonic chakra growing by the second, Temari was close by Gaara, Naruto remembered the regretful look she had given him and could not bring himself to think that she went along with this plan out of malice. Therefore he decided to help her and Gaara and try to make the boy see the light.

Naruto felt Temari close in on his position, Naruto landed on a branch and stared down at a worried looking Temari, and Naruto knew that that worry was more for her brothers than herself, "Kankuro is alive and unharmed." Naruto informed, Temari's worry visibly lessened a bit.

Naruto looked on in the direction that Gaara was still leaping to, "I plan to save him Temari, we are alike him and I… I cannot allow for the foolish raccoon to continue warping his mind, please step aside and you can tell them that you did not even see me, I know these woods like the back of my hand so it should not be impossible for them to believe that I was able to easily avoid you and slip away without you knowing." Naruto told Temari, Temari looked apprehensions, "are you really not going to kill him?" Temari asked, before she saw a little of what Naruto was capable of she would be the one worrying for him but she could tell Naruto was different and if there was anyone able to stop Gaara than it would be Naruto.

Naruto nodded, "like I said Gaara and I are the same there are only nine of us in the world after all." Naruto said with a smirk, Temari put two and two together and what she got surprised her, "you're a jinchuuriki?" Temari questioned, Naruto nodded, "as much as I would love to talk with a pretty woman I have a sand demon to stop." Naruto said before leaping across the trees.

* * *

Naruto leapt across the trees, he felt the influx of demonic chakra kick up, Naruto was then blindsided by a torrent of sand sending him into a tree and breaking his shades and making them fall off.

Naruto was able to land on a branch and see a nearly fully transformed Gaara with the diamond eyes of Shukaku and only his legs were normal.

"There you are Uzumaki, come and prove my existence!" Gaara yelled before sending a large sand claw towards him, Naruto punched the air and in an instant the superheated fire chakra in this hand and the friction of the punch caused a large ball of plasma shaped like a fist to crash into the sand claw and immediately turn it into glass. Gaara was stunned, "h…how?" Gaara questioned, Naruto smirked, "science bitch." Naruto stated.

Gaara yelled a deathly scream and launched himself at Naruto, Naruto was able to replace himself with a log at the last second, Gaara sent a volley of sand bullets at Naruto who in turn glassed his sand.

Naruto was able to distract Gaara with a horde of shadow clones and appear with a burst of speed behind Gaara, Gaara could not bring up his sand tail up in time before Naruto hit him full force with a lighting infused fist. Gaara's body flew, his sand protected him form the overload accompanied by getting that many volts into your body.

Gaara landed on the ground in a creator, Naruto landed some yards away from Gaara, suddenly a huge eruption of sand forced Naruto to back into the trees, the large torrent of sand shot upwards and began to form Shukaku.

Naruto cursed when Gaara willingly gave control to the demon and fell asleep. **"Hell yeah I'm free!" **Shukaku cheered.

"I can't let him near the village, Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto cried with Rinnegan ablaze. Soon Naruto was standing on the back of a large rhino that came up to Shukaku's waist and on his right was the large Hydra Dog that was a few meters taller than the rhino. "Distract him while I get to Gaara!" Naruto ordered.

The two summons obeyed and charged at the sand demon, while Naruto was on the back of the rhino and glassing the torrents of sand trying to kill him and dispel his rhino, Naruto looked over and saw the Hydra Dog was already hit a few times and now running next to him was eight identical dogs.

The rhino crashed into Shukaku, **"O so you want to play that way eh? Well I'll still kill you!" **Shukaku wailed madly.

Naruto charged chakra into his legs and leapt as high as he could, all the while pushing sand back with gravity and avoiding the now dozens of leaping dogs biting and clawing at the sand demon.

Naruto landed on the snout of Shukaku, **"how dare you try to climb on me! Die little worm!" **Shukaku cried while trying to incase the blond in his sand, Naruto activated his Rinnegan and pushed the sand back with easy.

Shukaku was taken aback, **"how? How do you have father's eyes," **Shukaku demanded to know, Naruto looked at him with Rinnegan ablaze in anger, "Shukaku release control Gaara now!" Naruto ordered, Shukaku looked torn, he wanted to be free it had been so long sense he was free but this boy had his fathers' eyes, Shukaku was like what you would call the baby of the family as the youngest and least powerful of the nine. He was obedient but the death of their father and the abandonment of the Kyuubi along with many years of painfully terrible seals drove him to madness. **"B...but the seal…it is so small… it's horrible in there!" **Shukaku wailed, Naruto was taken aback by this, _"father's eyes? So the Sage must have had a hand in creating the Bijuu somehow… Shukaku seems to listen to me as if I were the Sage himself. Shukaku… what drove you to such madness?" _Naruto wondered.

Naruto looked solemn at the sand demon he was standing on, "fear not Shukaku, I know a sealing master that can improve the seal on you and make it better." Naruto told the great beast, Shukaku looked apprehensive at that, **"d…do you promise?" **Shukaku asked, Naruto could see the desperation in those ancient eyes, _"it seems that Shukaku is nothing more than a lost child who needs a guide once more… I am not the saga nor can I fill his shoes but it seems that I may need to help Shukaku for the greater good and maybe if Shukaku knows that there is someone out there willing to help him than maybe he would stop trying to hurt Gaara." _Naruto mused.

"Shukaku I never go back on my promises, I promise that I will do all I can to improve your seal." Naruto declared, Shukaku nodded at that, "and also do not try to influence Gaara again please he has suffered enough in this life." Naruto told the sand demon.

Naruto then walked towards Gaara, Shukaku gave no resistance, Shukaku wanted to trust again, he wanted to trust one last time. And he would put the last of his trust into this boy who possesses the eyes of his beloved father.

Naruto touched Gaara's head and sent a spark to his brain affectively jumpstarting his mind and forcing him awake. Gaara gasped awaked and as soon has he opened his eyes the sand began to gradually fall to the ground.

* * *

Naruto garbed Gaara and jumped to the ground; Gaara twisted out of Naruto's grip and backpedaled away on the ground from the boy that defeated him. "No, no, no, no, no! You won't end my existence!" Gaara cried in desperation.

Naruto crouched down a few feet in front of Gaara and shook his head, "if I wanted to kill you we wouldn't be talking." Naruto informed, Gaara was taken aback by this, "b…but why, how are you so strong, mother tells me you are like me, you have something inside of you as well, how are you not hated and I am!" Gaara yelled mostly just to the world and the unfairness of it all.

Naruto looked sad at Gaara, "I am hated Gaara, it's just that I was found by people who cares for me and I protect them, I am strong because I love them and I will die for them." Naruto declared, Gaara shook his head, "I am not loved, I cannot become strong like you." Gaara hung his head in sadness; Naruto shuffled closer to Gaara and put his hand on his shoulder. "But you are Gaara." Naruto said getting a confused look from Gaara.

At that moment Temari and Kankuro appeared a few meters away from the two, Naruto inclined his head towards them, "they do Gaara, they are here for you they feared Shukaku but they love Gaara, you are there brother a part of them." Naruto told Gaara.

Gaara was taken aback by this, he looked at his brother and sister in disbelief, "i…is that true?" Gaara asked them, Temari and Kankuro stepped forward; Naruto walked back and gave them some time. Kankuro put a supportive hand of Gaara's back while Temari hugged her little brother and began to cry.

"We always have little bro, no matter what you did or said we stuck by you in the hopes we would have our brother back." Kankuro informed, Temari's shoulders still quaked from her sobs, her tears streaking down her face, "w…we are f...family Gaara, i…it's all we have." Temari sobbed out.

Gaara had a single tear drop down his stunned face and looked at Naruto, "m…mother is quite… what did you do?" Gaara asked, this made the other siblings turn to look at Naruto as well.

"Shukaku is a lost soul who was driven to madness over a long period of time by the poor seals your village force him into, I simply promised him to get someone to modify the seal to make it better." Naruto admitted, Gaara nodded at that and attempted to stand only to fall back on his ass. "Let me help you," Kankuro said, Gaara leaned on Kankuro for support.

Naruto looked at the three sand sibling, "you three should leave I do not believe your invasion has succeeded." Naruto suggested, all three nodded in agreement and began to head back to the desert.

When Gaara passed Naruto, Gaara looked at Naruto, "you are a good person Uzumaki…thank you." Gaara said, Kankuro gave a nod in agreement and leapt off with Gaara being supported by him.

Temari was about to walk away until she turned around and gave Naruto a quick hug and whispered, "thank you for bring him back." Temari said, Naruto gave her a fox like grin which made her blush a bit, "it's what I do." Naruto said simply.

* * *

Naruto returned to the village, the battles where still going on, he got memories form his clones earlier that Teuchi and Ayame were safe and now all Naruto had to worry about was the old man.

Naruto leapt across rooftops, he then saw the purple cube on the roof of a long building. Naruto landed on a roof right across from the barrier, he then witnessed the barrier collapse and five figures leap away with dozens of ANBU chasing them. Naruto eyed the group and was surprised to see Orochimaru among them.

Naruto's heart sank when his gaze wondered to a prone figure surrounded by three kneeling ANBU.

"_No… you better not be dead!" _Naruto panicked in thought.

Naruto landed by the side of the ANBU, Naruto looked on the prone figure.

Naruto's mind shut down, he stayed perfectly still like a statue, he could not process this.

Naruto looked into the dead face of the first person to treat him like a human being, the first person to value his existence, the first one to care. Hiruzen Sarutobi the third Hokage was lying dead at his feet.

All Naruto could do was think back to the times that the Hokage spent with him.

**Flash back**

A five year old Naruto was crying scared for his life in an alleyway, he was hiding from the villagers that wanted his head for no reason at all. Naruto stiffened when he saw a shadow in the alleyway; he looked up in fear to see an old man with a funny hat and robes standing before him. "It's okay little one… I will protect you." Said the kindly looking man, Naruto warily took his outstretched hand, "what is your name little one?" the old man asked, Naruto looked down, "N…Naruto." Naruto nervously stuttered, the old man smiled at Naruto, "nice to meet you Naruto, I am the Hokage." The old man introduced, Naruto might have been five but even he knew who the Hokage was, Naruto looked at the man in awe. The old man gave a light hearted chuckle and lead the hungry boy to a ramen stand.

* * *

Naruto was crying on his swing in front of the academy, he had just failed the genin exams for the first time, Naruto was feeling worthless, how could he make his grandfather figure proud of him if he could not be a ninja?

The Hokage appeared behind him after everyone had left to go celebrate with their families. Naruto felt the familiar comforting hand of the Hokage, Naruto hung his head in shame, "I…I didn't pass." Naruto said sadly, "I…I just wanted you to be proud of me." Naruto said before he began to cry again, Hiruzen kneeled down to the boy, "Naruto, as long as you burn brightly with the will of fire I will always be proud of you." The Hokage said.

Naruto looked confused, "the will of fire?" Naruto asked, The Hokage nodded, "it is what makes the people of this village so strong; as long as you fight to protect those close to you than your fire will burn brightly." Sarutobi declared, Naruto beamed at him and pumped his fist in the air, "then I'll pass next time to protect the people I love!" Naruto declared getting a chuckle form the old man.

* * *

Naruto was hugging his grandfather figure in his office and a few tears streaking down his face, The Hokage smiled at him, "No Naruto…thank you." Hiruzen told him.

**Flash back End **

* * *

Naruto let a single tear fall form his face, "who?" Naruto croaked out, the ANBU next to him understood the question, "the Hokage fought bravely, he was able to severely wound Orochimaru before he fell on the battlefield." The ANBU informed.

"Orochimaru," Naruto said in a monotone.

The ANBU nodded, "yes that is who killed him." Said another ANBU, "Orochimaru," Naruto said again, suddenly Naruto's chakra spiked to massive proportions making the ANBU step back out of instinct.

Naruto had been standing perfectly still for about five minutes and had absorbed a good amount of nature chakra, but instead of the calm soothing feeling of the nature charka, this chakra felt very, very angry.

Naruto's chakra appeared to swirl around him chaotically in black smoke, his presence forced the tiles of the roof around him to crack and crumble. His killing intent could be felt by all in the village and his chakra was full of hate, anger, and pain,

Naruto suddenly appeared on a nearby tall building, Naruto opened his eyes to reveal his blackened Rinnegan eyes.

Naruto was so full of anger and hate that his oppressive chakra made all of the battles around the village stop to look at what appeared to be a large plume of the blackest smoke anyone has ever seen.

Naruto roared in anger, his body was so filled with chakra that it changed his voice to become very loud, booming and deep. **"Orochimaru… YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"** Naruto declared.

**(AN: aww shit what's going to go down next chapter? Well like I said thank you all for reviewing my story, it mean a lot to me knowing people actually like my crazy ramblings. Next chapter some shit goes down and some more development for the rest of team seven, I already have the next chapter being mapped out in my head and am excited for all the things.**

**Now I feel like I should explain why Shukaku was so docile to Naruto, I am taking a bit of a page from Digitize27 because I quite like the idea of Shukaku associating his old memories of his father with Naruto. Some of you may feel like the heart to heart between Naruto and Sasuke was a bit much, I disagree you need to realize that Sasuke was emotionally and mentally vulnerable at the time, he basically had his mind assaulted by a foreign element and that could leave a guy a bit fucked up I don't care how tuff you are.**

**So yes the dobe is dead but Naruto isn't going to be cold his mask was just to hide his intellect and skills not his warm and friendly nature. Well I hope you all enjoy what I have planned, you stay classy ) **


	5. Mending Wounds and Serching for Slugs

**The Curse of the Rinnegan **

**Declaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**Mending Wounds and Searching for Slugs **

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai along with a few dozen other chunin and other jounin had cleared the arena of enemies and were now holding back a large number of three hundred Sound ninja.

The Sand shinobi had already retreated when there trump card Gaara was reported to be defeated and the news spread within the Sand forces, the Sand Shinobi had retreated leaving Orochimaru's Sound forces to fend for themselves.

Orochimaru had not ordered his forces to retreat, Orochimaru was a sore loser and wanted his forces to do as much damage as possible to the Leaf and so left a good portion of his forces leaderless when he took with him his best shinobi and ran, now most of the Sound ninja were in a desperate state and to fight a desperate man is to fight a dangerous man.

Kakashi and the other Leaf ninja braced themselves for another wave of Sound shinobi the enemies were closing in, there path out of the eastern gate was blocked by rubble and there battle ground was the large wide road that lead out of the village.

That was when everyone in the village paused, every person, man, woman, and child. Felt the oppressive killing intent and intensity of the chakra presence, the civilians and the more green ninja were shaking in their boots and sweating nervously. The more seasoned ninja were far more scared because they understood how powerful something must be to cause such a phenomenon, K…Kakashi… is this? Asuma asked, Kakashi shook his head, "no… I don't feel a drop of Kyuubi's chakra… who is-"Kakashi was cut off when the loudest booming roar that Kakashi as ever heard other than the Kyuubi's could be heard for miles all around.

"**Orochimaru… YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" **The entire village and a few miles beyond heard, Kakashi and the others, especially the Sound ninja were now very frightful.

The Leaf ninja had no idea who Orochimaru pissed off so much and the Sound ninja could only feel like their judgment had come.

* * *

Naruto looked around the village quickly, eyes darting all around, Naruto could not feel Orochimaru anywhere for the first time sense he first awoken his Rinnegan Naruto was feeling true hatred, he wanted to kill the snake he wanted to see him burn and destroy anything and everything to do with him, _"if I cannot kill you now…then I shall kill the fool that follows." _Naruto thought darkly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and could see a large group of eight hundred Sound shinobi making a run for the main gate with a smaller force of Leaf ninja cheering at their backs. Naruto growled in anger, **"You shall not escape punishment!" **Naruto's booming voice sounded once more. Naruto leaped up into the air, his dark chakra quickly formed his shadowy dragon wings on his back and flew strait for the fleeing Sound ninja attempting to run out of the main north gate.

* * *

Ibiki and his team were badly wounded but thanks to that scary ass voice the Sound shinobi that would have washed over position like a wave in a storm lost the stomach to fight and quickly fled. The chunin and jounin all around Ibiki who were alive and conscience cheered for their victory, however soon there cheers became nervous mumbles to each other when they all felt the same oppressive chakra heading for them as an extremely fast pace. Ibiki and the others paled when they saw the black clad form of Naruto with dragon like wings of shadow pass overhead and strait in front of the routing army.

Naruto landed at the north gates sending a shockwave into the ground with the force of the impact making the leading stunned Sound ninjas fly back, but before they got too far Naruto's wings flapped, Naruto infused the air around his wings with superhot fire chakra and at the same time his wings flapped creating even more friction and also added wind chakra into the mix. In an instant a superheated plumb of smoke washed over the eight hundred Sound shinobi. This was a new combination technique that Naruto had learned recently called, pyroclastic flow, which did as the name entails, it literally creates a pyroclastic flow.

All the Sound shinobi that were not immediately incinerated were turned into featureless human figures of ash and stone forever in there last positions that they held upon their deaths.

Naruto looked on at the destroyed enemies in disgust, Naruto felt more Sound shinobi attempting to escape his punishment at the western gate and flew off to deliver his said punishment.

Ibiki and his team was stunned, they had never seen such a power, "uhh… who was that?" Asked a chunin, Ibiki shook his head in disbelief, Naruto might have been shrouded in literal darkness but his yellow mop was in direct contrast to everything around him. And Ibiki could never forget the hair. "I…I think that was Naruto." Ibiki said, the others were confused and stunned, "how?" was all one jounin could ask, Ibiki shook his head clear, "all of you I want you to take care of the wounded, I'm going to check on some things." Ibiki ordered, the others under his command obeyed, Ibiki then went off in the direction of Naruto.

* * *

Once Jiraiya and his toads finished off the snake summons he and along with many other brave Leaf ninja beat back the armies of the Sand, when they retreated after word of Gaara's defeat reached them Jiraiya and the other Leaf shinobi that were able went to reinforce the defenses at the western gate. Now all that was left was a broken army of five hundred routing Sound ninja attempted to escape, the Leaf ninja were too busy with their wounded to care for the broken enemy.

Most ninja were happy that they had won the day but Jiraiya was fearful, he had felt the Senjutsu spike and the subsequent almighty declaration that the snake's days were essentially numbered. Jiraiya would have felt bad for his former teammate but feeling the hate, rage, and pain in Naruto's chakra made him angry as well that someone could ever make this side show of Naruto show and whatever made Naruto this pissed was not good in the least.

The sky above Jiraiya and the other Leaf ninja was shadowed for a quick second, the ninja looked up to see the back of Naruto's dragon wings made of shadow.

Naruto did not even touch the ground this time, he simply flew over the routing army charged wind chakra again into his wings, his left wing gave a long flap and sending a large cutting wind to crash into the army at the same time his right wing gave a long flap as well but this time Naruto made the wind chakra flow in a different direction, the opposing winds meet and created a short lived but very devastating tornado of sorts. The tornado attacked the army and sent many flying to their deaths when the tornado dissipated it left only a few dozen Sound ninja that had been killed by either flying rubble or a dead flying comrade that crashed into them.

Jiraiya was stunned by the brutality, over the last month he had come to know Naruto as a fun and relatively happy person. But this side of Naruto, this was a whole new side, one of hate and anger, this side of Naruto had only been seen once and just like then, people died when this side surfaced.

Naruto felt around once again, he felt that the only Sound forces left that were not already captured and locked up were at the eastern gate. Naruto flew to that direction intent on killing the last reminisce of the snake in the leaves.

Jiraiya quickly ordered the wounded to be taken care of and followed after Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai were met with Gai and Ibiki running towards them, Gai had a large grin on his face, he was happy that his youthful village had stood up against the most unyouthful attack. But Ibiki looked troubled.

"Yosh, I have come to help you beat back the last of our most unyouthful foe!" Gai yelled, Ibiki looked at the other jounin present with worry, Kakashi noticed this and asked Ibiki what was wrong, "Ibiki what is it?" Kakashi asked, "Kakashi its…" Ibiki trailed off when the sky suddenly became dark for a short second and the oppressive chakra washed over the area with greater intensity that it had before.

All ninja Sound and Leaf alike watched in fear as the black being crashed into the ground in between the two opposing forces of Leaf and Sound.

Naruto breathed in deeply and sucked back in most of the black whips of Senjutsu surrounding him, his wings were now gone but his dark aura was still leaking out of his body.

Naruto pulled out two kunai in each hand and charged them both with wind chakra, Naruto then began to charge himself with a crude and incomplete version of the lighting armor. It was not as effective as the Raikage's lightning armor but it would server for now and besides Naruto was so pumped with Senjutsu that the difference was minimal.

Naruto looked at the last few hundred sound shinobi with hatred and anger, in Naruto's mind these people were just as responsible for his surrogate grandfather's death than Orochimaru was. He hated everything about the snake now, he now fully understood Sasuke's need for vengeance.

He never felt so much hate in his life, he would have been surprised if his mind was not so focused on killing everything with a Sound headband that the Kyuubi had not attempted to use his weakened emotional state to take over, but now not the time for questions, now was the time for killing.

Naruto rushed forward, Naruto was so fast that his after images crated a sort of solid black line that zigzagged across the enemy army.

Naruto stabbed his right kunai into the skull of the first ninja, he was so fast that gravity did not yet claim the ninja's body before he had already sliced the throat of another, Naruto twisted around the dead shinobi and kicked the ninja directly behind his most recent kill. Naruto's entire body was surrounded by lighting chakra so when his foot connected to the chest of the Sound ninja, the persons heart stopped beating but was also sent crashing into the ground, if there heart was intact and was still alive then there brain damage from the impact would have killed them.

Naruto was hacking and slashing away at the enemy with anger in the void called his eyes. _"More," _Naruto thought in his anger as he stabbed a kunai into the skull of another shinobi, _"more," _Naruto's thoughts became even more sadistic as he used both his kunai to kill two ninja who were probably friends as they were holding hands with each other for comfort as the saw there ends. _"I want to kill more!" _Naruto thought manically had he stomped on the head of a still alive but wounded Sound ninja. _"I will destroy everything that you have Orochimaru!" _Naruto thought with finality when he finished his spree when he planted his now dull kunai into the last Sound ninja at the far end of the army.

It all lasted a second, to Kakashi and the other Leaf ninja all they saw was a black line zigzagging all about the Sound forces and in the next second the army was covered in its own blood and the Sound ninja all collapsed on the floor in unison leaving only a heavily breathing blond boy at the far end of the army covered in blood.

That was the scene that Jiraiya came to, Jiraiya's breath hitched as did the other jounin sensei and Ibiki when they finally noticed the blond hair of Naruto.

Naruto looked down at his last kill he turned his head and saw the other kills he made, he stared at them with an impassive gaze. Naruto could not feel anything at the moment. When he felt no Sound shinobi that were a threat to the village his rage subsided and all that he was left with was emptiness.

The full realization of his thoughts and actions did not sink in yet, his mind and higher thought process stopped working.

He was left blank, he regained some semblance of coherent thought when he heard the timid footsteps of Jiraiya and Kakashi, when Naruto's rage subsided so did his Senjutsu, Naruto's Rinnegan was gone and only the emotionless blue ocean that was his eyes remained.

Naruto turned to see a very concerned and worried Sennin and copycat ninja behind him, Kakashi took the initiative, "N…Naruto?" Kakashi asked in concern, Naruto blinked, _"Naruto…yes that is my name," _Naruto thought, Naruto looked all around at the destruction of his home village, Naruto could only do what felt nature to him an immediate worried about his village rather than his own psyche.

Naruto looked to Kakashi, all semblance of chain of command was gone from him right now, the village needed strength and he remembered the teachings his aged Hokage, _"be Hokage not for the respect for the title, but because you are the best one for the job." _The Hokage's voice echoed in his mind, Naruto's mind was so battered that he either forgot that his grandfather figure was dead or could only think like a Hokage at the moment because thinking about anything else would only hurt.

"Kakashi, send word to the ANBU that ran after Orochimaru to return," Naruto began getting a surprised look from the masked ninja, not just form Naruto's apparent unawareness of the situation but also of the authority of which he spoke, "Naru-" Kakashi tried but was cut off when Naruto continued when he looked behind him at the other Leaf ninja, "you all deal with the wounded, Gai sense you are the fastest I want you to send word to all fronts of our defense to stay on guard while they rest up, we don't know if Orochimaru might have made any deals with other hidden villages." Naruto ordered.

No one moved, all of them were too stunned and confused to do so but Gai naturally twitched as if to carry out the order just out of instinct because Naruto spoke with such authority that it made you follow.

"Naru –" Jiraiya and Kakashi tried before they were interrupted again by the blond who turned to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya I need you to stay in the village but I want you to find some ANBU teams who are fresh enough to make a few days long patrol mission between the border of Fire and Earth country, I do not trust the Tsuchikage to not try something when word of this gets ou-" Naruto was cut off when both Jiraiya and Kakashi yelled at him, "Naruto!" They both yelled in unison, Naruto blinked once, then twice, soon his mind stopped using his natural defense mechanism when it came to trauma. His mind was not used to such emotional trauma that today put him through so it naturally built a defense so that it would not overload, it pushed away all of Naruto's feeling and put him into an authoritative mode that would do one thing and one thing only, protect his village. He could still plan in this state, he could still think complex thoughts and do complex actions, the only thing is, he could not feel in this state. He was more machine than man, he did not hate, he did not love, all he did was go into his instinctual desire to protect his home, his village, his territory.

Naruto's mind rebooted, suddenly a wave of emotions crashed into him, anger, hate, grief. All of these being the most intense, anger for Orochimaru, hate of himself, and grief for his beloved grandfather figure.

Naruto's mind could not take it, he kneeled down on the blood soaked ground and began to cry, both men moved fast by their students' side. Kakashi put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It's alright Naruto… you did what you had to." Kakashi said in a comforting whisper thinking that Naruto was crying over the blood he spilt which was only part of the reason.

Jiraiya was also by the blondes' side and kneeled down to his eye level, "Naruto…what happened?" Jiraiya asked in his own whisper, Naruto was still sobbing quite sobs, his tears mixed with the blood at his feet, "H…he killed him" Naruto said in-between sobs, Jiraiya did not need to ask what he meant. Naruto was clearly out for Orochimaru's blood and the only reason for that was if someone close to Naruto was killed by him, and Orochimaru had a long standing vendetta against his sensei.

Naruto continued to sob for a few more minutes before the physical and emotional toll reached its peak and Naruto promptly passed out. Kakashi caught his student before he fell face first in his victims' blood.

"I'm taking him to the hospital, he needs a safe place to rest." Kakashi informed, the Toad Sage nodded silently with a pained expression on his face.

The rest of the jounin did not hear the conversation and so were confused, Kakashi approached his comrades with Naruto in arms, "help the wounded and tell the rest of our forces to assemble we need to think of a strategy to move forward with." Kakashi ordered, "What happened Kakashi?" Asked Asuma, Kakashi glanced down at the tear and blood stained face of Naruto, Kakashi looked at all of the assembled Leaf ninja who were looking at him with worry and curiosity, Kakashi turned form them and began to walk away, he then looked over his shoulder as he was walking, "the Hokage is dead." Kakashi said solemnly before leaping away and leaving the gasping Leaf ninja to their duties.

* * *

Naruto awoke, he opened his eyes to blackness, he could feel himself floating a bit in shallow water, Naruto's mind was blank, he saw the darkened walls and the large bars next to him but he did not truly see them.

Naruto then felt a warm breath on him that sent his floating form floating away from the bars, Naruto's eyes wondered to the blackness behind the large bars of what looked like a cage.

Naruto then saw one large red silted eye slowly open and the shining sharp white teeth of a toothy grin form. **"Well that was truly amusing… so that is the power of an angry sage," **Spoke the Kyuubi, Naruto heard him but did not respond he felt so numb with his emotions right now that he could only stare blankly at him.

The Kyuubi's grin grew at seeing Narutos' blank stare, **"O so this is how you give up? I knew you were not worthy of those eyes." **The Kyuubi spoke in triumph.

Naruto stared blankly for a long time at the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi stared back, Naruto's mind slowly start to work again, "why?" Naruto asked, the Kyuubi looked amused, **"are you asking me why the world is so cruel? I thought you knew the answer?" **Asked the Kyuubi, Naruto managed to shake his head, "no…why did you not try to take over?" Asked Naruto, the Kyuubi's grin faded a tad at seeing that Naruto was still as curious as ever.

"**I wanted to see what you would do on your own and might I say that that blood bath that you caused was amusing," **admitted the fox, Naruto's mind was kicking back up again, it helped his twirling emotions to be able to focus on a mystery to keep his mind busy for a while. "No…I felt you try to take over, you couldn't…why is that?" Naruto asked.

The Kyuubi now felt annoyed, he was hoping that Naruto was finally broken enough to be able to be persuaded to remove the seal but it seems that Naruto was slowly coming back from his emotional tirade.

"**I do not know what you mean," **Said the Kyuubi attempting to throw Naruto off, Naruto began to stand up on shaky legs, "No I felt the pull on the seal, you pumped demonic chakra into me but it did not influence my mind, in fact I felt it immediately dilute into my system." Naruto informed, Kyuubi narrowed his one visible eyes at Naruto, **"It seems like your Senjutsu enhanced Preta Path was able to shield you." **The Kyuubi reluctantly admitted.

Naruto nodded but soon another question hit him, if he was in the seal and asking questions than he did not have to face the real world, he did not have to feel grief or self-hatred, in the seal he could get answers or maybe more questions to occupy his mind so he doesn't need to focus on the pain.

"Why did Shukaku say that I have the eyes of his father? Did the Sage make the Bijuu?" Naruto asked, Kyuubi scoffed. **"Shukaku mistaking you for the Sage… you are noting like him!" **Roared the Kyuubi in disgust of his fellow Bijuu, Naruto sighed in annoyance, "you already told me this can you or can you not answer my question?

They Kyuubi looked at him for a long moment, **"well if I said no to that then I would be creating a paradox now wouldn't I?"** Said the Kyuubi with a sly grin, Naruto resisted the urge to face palm. He then began to feel a pull on his mind, _"no…I don't want to face them…I don't want to live with what I've done just yet!" _Naruto thought franticly, as Naruto was being pulled form his mindscape he could hear the Kyuubi chuckling at him, **"you were damned the moment you became a ninja foolish ningen." **Said the Kyuubi's fading voice.

* * *

Naruto awakened to the real world, he slowly opened his eyes to the white tiled ceiling of his hospital room, Naruto still felt drained mentally, he for the most part recovered physically but the memories of his actions and the disturbing thoughts that he had when he was killing the last of the Sound ninja became clearer in his head. His fear that he was deep down something of a monster was confirmed. He knew that having the Kyuubi did not make him a monster, nor did the Kyuubi have any hand in his thoughts or actions, Naruto was beginning to slowly lose himself, but it was his hope that this was an isolated incident. _"Yeah that's got to be it…I've never lost anyone before so this feeling was is new to me…I'm not a monster…this could happen to anyone," _Naruto reasoned but he still felt hollow.

Naruto slowly sat up on his bed, his mind was still uncomprehending as he was working though his emotions his advanced mind really helped at a time like this, he could balance his emotions with logic and reasoning and make sense of his own feeling. But still no matter how smart you are it is still very dangerous to try to work out trauma by yourself, Sasuke being a good example of what happens when one does not ask for help.

It was then when the door to Naruto's room opened, Naruto was unresponsive to the door opening, he was still in his mind palace trying to work out the emotional wreak that was Naruto.

The door opened to reveal the whole of the rookie nine including one masked jounin along with Tenten, seeing how she is the only one of her team that was well enough to visit and her sensei was on duty.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura started carefully, none of the Naruto's peers knew of his killing spree, all they were told was that Naruto and the Hokage were close and that Naruto was not taking it well.

Naruto did not respond, how could he, he was currently communing with the cosmic force that was gravity in an effort to see the bigger picture of life, this often helped when Naruto needed to think.

"We came to see if you were okay," Said Choji to his currently self-repairing friend, Naruto still gave no indication that he was aware of anything, his eyes were glazed over and his mind was and body were focused on a comet who's gravity was being affected by the sun billons of miles away.

Naruto was then brought back to the domain of the human species when he felt a comforting hand hold his left hand, Naruto's eyes began to focus again.

Hinata apparently hated seeing her crush in such a state and wanted to be his strength for once so she steeled herself and walked up to his bed to try to bring the Naruto they all knew back.

At the same time everyone else other than Kakashi who was hanging back, got closer towards Naruto in show of support, even Sasuke showed his support by placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

When Sasuke looked at Narutos' far off state, it was like looking into a mirror, for the first few months after the massacre Sasuke was an emotional wreak, it wasn't until a certain annoying blond saw his pain and decided to help him by annoying the shit out of him which caused him to be his punching bag for the following minuets. Sasuke felt much better after letting off some steam and he vaguely remembered a bruised and battered Naruto smiling when he saw Sasuke's mood improve as if he had planned to be his stress relief in the first place.

Naruto saw all his friends show support for him, Naruto did not know whether or not if it was for his loss of a loved one, the fact that he killed so many people and could barely keep it together, or both.

But Naruto decided that he didn't care, he was grateful to them right now, and he was able to muster a small twitch of his lips that indicated that there support was helping.

It was then when Tenten spoke up, "we heard you beat Gaara even when the sand demon was released… that's so cool how did you do it?" Asked Tenten excitedly, trying to liven up the room, the others nodded as the wanted to know as well.

Naruto looked at all of them, his eyes glaze over again to the time that he faced Shukaku, Naruto looked far off again and his voiced matched his look, "Shukaku…he was…driven to insanity by the poor sealing he was put in." Naruto said as if he was talking to himself rather than his friends.

The genin did not know what to make of this Naruto, this Naruto was unresponsive half the time and was a million miles away when he spoke.

It was then when Kakashi decided that Naruto was still in no state for questions right now and if Naruto started to ramble than he did not want his friends to see him in such a state.

"Guys I think Naruto needs to rest a bit more, he did fight a Bijuu after all." Kakashi said, the genin nodded a left, some like Choji, Ino, Sakura, and Tenten shrugged off Naruto's behavior to some physical damage.

But Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Shino saw that there was something else bothering the blond.

Kakashi was the only one left in the room, Naruto did not even notice that the room was empty, Kakashi and Naruto both sat in silence for a while.

Kakashi was standing near Naruto's bed looking sad and concerned for the boy while Naruto was recalling his killing spree in vivid detail, every kill, every drop of blood, every chakra signature he snuffed out he could remember and he counted. At the end of his counting Kakashi could see Naruto's eyes refocused and looked at him with guilt in his eyes, "one thousand five hundred and eighty two." Naruto said, Kakashi looked confused, "what?" Kakashi asked, "one thousand five hundred and eighty two." Naruto repeated, Kakashi was now even more concerned when he saw a single tear run down Naruto's face, "what does that mean?" Kakashi asked, Naruto hung his head in shame and his shoulders began to quake in quite sobs, "t...that's how many I k…killed." Naruto said in between sobs.

Kakashi kneeled down and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Naruto…they were enemies, they would have burnt this village to the ground if they succeeded we both know what the men in Orochimaru's army would have done to the people of this village." Kakashi reasoned.

Naruto's sobs began to slowly stop as he processed Kakashi's words, if they would have won then they would have burnt his home, if they would have one they would have killed his friends, _"if they would have won…o God, Ayame!" _Naruto thought as he pictured what would have happened to her if those pigs in Orochimaru's employ would have found her, Ayame was a civilian so he had worried about her the most during the invasion.

Naruto's eyes burned for a quick second in the same rage and hate that slaughtered armies, "you're right Kakashi-sensei, if those _things _would have won then who know why they would have done to _my _village!" Naruto cried, Kakashi was taken aback by the complete one eighty of Naruto's mood, before he was ashamed of the slaughter he caused now he seemed content almost pleased that he killed all those Sound shinobi and the way he referred to them made it sound like Naruto no longer considered them human. When he said 'my village' he said it in such a protective tone not too far off from how a parent would sound when protecting their child.

"Uhh, yeah well…you've been out for a day, the memorial service for our fallen is tomorrow, I thought you would want to know, after that you have the next day off to clear your head but I want you to report to the mission hall by Tuesday if you feel that you are fit mentally to carry out your duties by then." Kakashi informed, Naruto nodded his understanding before Kakashi left and Naruto passed out again form the emotional drain he had gone through, men were not supposed to feel such wide range of emotions.

* * *

Naruto was standing next to the mourning Konohamaru, it was raining and the entire village showed up to pay their respects, Naruto, the council and the family of Hiruzen Sarutobi were up in front of everyone, Konohamaru was the only one up front that was openly sobbing. Who could blame him? He was a young kid who had thought the world of his grandfather, Naruto had done most of his crying, and yet he could not help the strain his eyes were going under when he felt his eyes begin to well up in tears but he fought them back. Naruto needed to be strong again; he needed to be the unmovable rock for his friends again. _"A ninja does not cry, a ninja does not show emotion, a ninja does not cry, a ninja…" _Was the mantra that Naruto was keeping in his head to stave off the coming tears.

The family and those that knew the Hokage well were allowed to speak a few words, Naruto wanted to tell everyone just how human the man was because most of the people speaking made the old man sound as two dimensional as the sheets of paper there speeches were written on but Naruto knew that the 'demon' would not be allowed to do such a thing. Asuma was the Hokage's son and he would probably know him best but he was never one to speak in front of the crowed, Asuma looked over and saw the last person, Danzo give his speech.

He saw that Naruto looked like he wanted to go and tell them all of his grandfather figures humanity and the love that he shared with everyone that was special to him but he knew why Naruto was not up there right now. Asuma sighed and began to walk towards the podium to give his impromptu eulogy, Asuma's footsteps on to the podium could be heard all throughout the quiet cemetery, Asuma cleared this throat behind the microphone.

"My father was one of the greatest men I will ever know, not for his prowess on the battlefield, not for all of his wisdom or knowledge, but because of one night that I will always remember.

When I was young and in bed I was frightened by a nightmare and the only thing that could console me at the time was my father. But he was busy with his duties at the time, all throughout that night I felt scared and alone, nothing my mother did would help. It wasn't until later that night did my father turn up in my room and held me… he told me that he felt that I was scared and fought tooth and nail to comfort me.

You see, Hiruzen Sarutobi the third Hokage was not a good man to me for his power or knowledge, he was a good man because he was a great father."

Asuma concluded his speech, Naruto gave him a sad smile nodding his thanks to him. Konohamaru smiled sadly as well when he remembered just how great a grandfather Hiruzen was.

The service concluded and Naruto was the last to leave.

* * *

The next day Naruto was in a training ground alone, he was in one of the lesser used training grounds and so felt like it was time to meditate on things, Naruto was sitting in the middle of the training grounds, he was levitating about three feet in the air, all around him small rocks could be seen orbiting around the blond.

Soon Naruto began to feel something in his forehead, it felt as if Naruto's forehead was burning in two precise spots on his head, Naruto's concentration was broken and he fell to the ground.

He quickly took off his headband and began to rub his forehead, this helped his head some. Naruto was still rubbing his head when he felt two very small bumps on his forehead, almost unnoticeable but still it was there.

"_Damn I must be getting pimples." _Naruto thought, Naruto shrugged and put back on his forehead protector.

Later that day Naruto felt better, his time of self-reflection had put some of his mind at ease, he still felt sad for the loss of his grandfather figure but he also was happy that he found his peace.

Naruto no longer felt a crippling guilt over the lives that he took those two days ago, he took Kakashi's reasoning to heart and took solace in the fact that they would have lived to make others suffer had he not been there.

Now Naruto was walking away from the training grounds he had used for his meditation when he noticed a familiar chakra signature in another nearby training ground.

Naruto walked towards the chakra signature; once he got closer he could start to hear punches connecting to a taijutsu training log.

Naruto walked into the training grounds silently and without alerting the person training.

Naruto watched as Sasuke ran through fast paced katas of the Uchiha interceptor style, Sasuke's moves were very fast so fast that every time that they connected the heavy and thick training log would begin to visibly vibrate with the punches and kicks.

"_If those hits would connect with someone's block then they could have a bone break if not infused with chakra." _Naruto evaluated, Naruto then witnessed Sasuke begin to heat up the air around his punched with fire chakra, the friction his punches caused along with Sasuke heating up the fire chakra began to make his fists glow white hot and now each punch that was connecting began to melt where it connected. _"Plasma release… so he was paying attention." _Naruto surmised, but soon the plasma release started to become unstable and Naruto saw this, the plasma around Sasuke's fists began to become erratic and any second now Sasuke would be a pile of ash.

Naruto took action and pulled Sasuke towards him via his gravity manipulation, Sasuke gave a startled yelp and a second later felt hands on his forearms and he could feel the chakra that he was using for plasma release gradually fading.

Sasuke twisted away from the persons grip and instinctively got into a ready stance, once he realized who was standing before him he lowered his stance, "what are you doing hear dobe?," Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes, Naruto rolled his eyes, "well saving your life for one." Naruto said as he gestured to Sasuke's singed hands, Sasuke saw this and scoffed, "I had it handled," Sasuke said, Naruto shook his head, "no you didn't it take a lot of practice to perfect the plasma release and even then it is still dangerous, if I hadn't been hear you would have vaporized yourself." Naruto informed, Sasuke was too proud to say thank you so all he gave Naruto was a nod and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked, Sasuke did not look back to him, "hn" was his response, "well fine if you don't want my help with the plasma release." Naruto called out, Sasuke paused for a moment and turned towards Naruto, "how did you stop they chakra from vaporizing me?" Sasuke asked, Naruto shrugged, "eh I absorbed it," Naruto admitted, Naruto thought it best not to lie at the moment and if he asked about it than he could just tell him that it was a sort of blood line thing and he couldn't teach him which was the truth of sorts.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blond he felt his chakra being drained earlier and it made sense that it was being taken somehow but the fact that it was Naruto that did it was what made him suspicious, "how?" He asked, Naruto figured that this question would come, Naruto gave him a shrug, "It's hard to explain and it can't be taught but I just sort of focus on another person's chakra either in a specific area like I did earlier or throughout their body and kind of pull it out." Naruto explained Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the whole 'can't be taught' part, "you have a blood limit?" Sasuke asked, Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "ah sort of it's hard to explain but maybe someday I'll tell you about it." Naruto said, Sasuke grunted at that but dropped it none the less.

That was when Jiraiya of the Sennin appeared in a shunshin a leaves some distance across the training grounds, "hey kid pack your bags we're leaving," Jiraiya told Naruto, Naruto tilted his head in confusion as did Sasuke. "What you mean Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya shook his fist angrily at Naruto, "hey you brat don't call me that!" Jiraiya fumed, Naruto rolled his eyes, honestly Jiraiya was so easy to rile up.

"Whatever but you still didn't answer my question." Naruto said, Jiraiya sighed in annoyance and grumbled something about disrespectful brats, "like I said kid we're leaving the village you and I are going on a mission." Jiraiya said, "But I thought I would be staring my missions with my team." Naruto said confused, Jiraiya sighed again, "Yeah I already cleared it with your sensei but this mission is important, you and I will be going to find the new Hokage." Jiraiya informed, Naruto was surprised by this at first but soon his mind began to work its powers of deduction and what he knows of village politics.

"_Jiraiya would be a no brainer to ask for the seat even if he's a perv, but he told me that he's the spy master of our village and something like that is a basic need of any ninja village. So then the next choice would be the only remaining Sennin…but she's been off the radar for over a decade, so that's why Jiraiya was sent to find her and I could only guess he chose me to come along because he still wants to teach me something." _Naruto quickly deduced.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, "so I'm guessing we're tracking down Tsunade?" Naruto asked, Jiraiya was impressed that Naruto was able to find that out so quickly, but then again Nagato was the same way but probably to a lesser extent.

Jiraiya grinned at him, "the one and only… so back your bags kid cause you and I will be hitting the road!" Jiraiya exclaimed, but before Jiraiya could disappear again Naruto asked a question that made him pause. "Can Sasuke come? I still want to show him how to perfect plasma release and if I'm not hear then he could accidently vaporize himself." Naruto said, Jiraiya looked thoughtful for a moment, from what Naruto said when they were training Sasuke seemed like a prick but after seeing the display at the chunin exams it seems that Naruto was trying to more or less reconcile with the boy.

Sasuke was surprised at this, he figured that Naruto would hate him after what he did during the chunin exams but it seems that Naruto was truly making an effort at being his friend. Sasuke never really had a need for friends but after that talk with Naruto during the finals he felt a weight being lifted from him knowing that he did not have to walk his road alone. He wanted to be the one to walk his lonely road of revenge alone because he knew what it was doing to him and believe it or not, Sasuke would not wish his path to be walked by anyone so he would bare this burden alone. But seeing Naruto and his pain, Sasuke came to realize that he had company on his dark path and maybe, just maybe his path did not seem so dark after all.

Jiraiya understood the delicate situation of Sasuke's mental stability to a degree, if Jiraiya left with possible the only person who would be able to help him then Sasuke could very easily succumb to his own darkness, but Jiraiya had also wanted to help Naruto train and did not want the hassle of trying to hide the Rinnegan form prying eyes.

Jiraiya sighed, _"Well I guess I could always teach Naruto 'that' jutsu that certainly doesn't need the Rinnegan to work out." _Jiraiya mused.

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "alright but you'll have to be the one to explain it to Kakashi," Jiraiya told Naruto. Naruto grinned, "Alright, come one Sasuke lets go tell Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said before leaping off into the trees which Sasuke followed without a word.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke found Kakashi lounging around with Asuma and Gai at a restaurant, "Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled once he saw the scarecrow, Kakashi looked up from his book and eye smiled at his two students walking up to him, he was happy to see Naruto back to some semblance of normalcy after the invasion.

"O well hello there my little minions," Kakashi greeted, while Asuma chuckled at Kakashi's name calling, Naruto chuckled as well. "Hey Kakashi-sensei I was wondering if it would be okay if Pervy Sage and I brought along Sasuke for our mission." Naruto asked, Kakashi looked thoughtful, he was in a similar boat as Jiraiya, he was seeing Naruto slowly begin to have a positive influence on Sasuke and wanted Sasuke to spend as much time as he could with Naruto, but at the same time Sasuke was needed hear to help repair the village and run other missions along with Sakura.

Kakashi was brought from his musing when Naruto spoke up, "this would be a perfect time to finally get Sakura some one on one training, Sasuke and I have already had that to an extent but she was left out more or less during the one month before the chunin exams, now's the time to make up for lost time Kakashi-sensei." Naruto reasoned, Kakashi thought it over and he couldn't help but agree, Sakura was very good with her chakra control and Kakashi could get her started on the more advanced exercises that would make it even better.

"I agree with young Naruto my youthful rival, the ever so youthful Sakura would be able to greatly benefit from some one on one training for a time!" Gai shouted, while Asuma gave a nod in agreement, Kakashi eye smiled at his two students, "You really want to go Sasuke?" Kakashi asked Sasuke actually did want to go; this was not only his chance to perfect the plasma release but also a chance to learn from a Sennin.

Sasuke nodded and Kakashi gave a nod as well, "alright but be careful out there you two you never know when someone from a rival village would come along and want to prevent us from regaining our strength by trying to stop you from bringing Tsunade back." Kakashi warned his students getting a scoff from one and a determined nod from the other.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke took an hour to prepare for the mission and soon met up with each other, "you know what I just realized," Naruto said to Sasuke, Sasuke tilted his head to show that he was listing, "the perv never told us where to meet up." Naruto informed, Sasuke face palmed, of course the dobe wouldn't bother to ask. "Hey don't give me that you didn't ask either," Naruto said after seeing Sasuke's 'the annoying dobe messed up' face.

Naruto sighed and began to focus on the chakra signatures within his range, the Rinnegan gave him a limited sensor ability but it could be better if Naruto trained it better, however Naruto had been focused on other aspects of his powers but the use of his sensor ability was well useful so he made a mental note to try to improve that aspect of his powers when he found the time.

Naruto felt the familiar and large chakra signature of Jiraiya standing by the main north gate waiting for them.

Naruto lead Sasuke towards the waiting Jiraiya, "there you guys are." Jiraiya said once Naruto and Sasuke were in sight.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the annoying Toad Sage, "well you didn't tell us were to meet up." Naruto retorted, Jiraiya waved him off dismissively, "yeah, yeah well we got to get a move on; Tsunade is never one to stay at one place for too long." Jiraiya said as he began to walk out of the gates.

Both boys followed Jiraiya and began their journey to find the woman who will become the fifth Hokage.

* * *

They had been walking all day in relative silence, Naruto attempted to make conversation with Sasuke but he seemed to be off in his own little world right now, so Naruto decided to ask Jiraiya some questions, "Oi Pervy Sage, are you goanna teach us something or are we just going to keep walking all damn day!" Naruto called out, he was doing this more for Sasuke's benefit, Naruto was completely fine with working on his sensory ability alone but Sasuke did not have the advantage of getting the full potential of the human mind unlocked within himself.

Jiraiya puffed out his chest, "well as a matter of fact I was planning on showing you one of the forth most famous jutsu!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

That got Sasuke's attention. "You're going to teach us one of the fourth Hokage's techniques?" Sasuke asked, Jiraiya shook his head, "not exactly, I'll be teaching Naruto this one sense you already got the Chidori I doubt this jutsu will fit your style." Jiraiya told Sasuke, Sasuke wanted to make an arrogant remark about how he's an Uchiha and all jutsu would fit his style but then Sasuke began to think it over and figured that if a Sennin was good for anything than it would be advice on all things ninja.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke, he was really improving if he was able to restrain his arrogance just now, "don't worry Sasuke you need to focus on that plasma release I wasn't able to use much useful jutsu with it until after the second exam and even then it took me a while to get it to that level." Naruto reassured his Uchiha comrade.

Sasuke gave a "hn" and crossed his arms in response but agreed that the plasma release would be useful and it was already dangerous, if he would split his time with another jutsu that probably wouldn't fit well with him in the first place than he would just be hurting himself.

"So what's the jutsu?" Naruto asked while looking at Jiraiya, Jiraiya smirked and held out his hand, suddenly a swirling ball of chakra appeared in his hand. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked on in awe at the swirling ball of pure chakra, Naruto more so, Naruto was staring at the ball so intently that he subconsciously activated his Rinnegan. Naruto was able to see exactly how the ball of energy was formed and just how Jiraiya was doing it, he was changing the form of his chakra and making it spin and turn like a condensed maelstrom. "Amazing…what a perfect baseline," Naruto commented, as he looked up at Jiraiya and deactivated his eyes, Sasuke was too intent on the sphere of chakra to notice.

Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow at Naruto and made the sphere disperse, "what makes you think this is an incomplete jutsu?" Jiraiya asked, he knew of course that Minato wanted to add a wind element to the jutsu but he never got around to it, but he wanted to know how Naruto got to that conclusion.

Sasuke looked confused at Naruto, that jutsu was looked complete to him but the look in Naruto's eye told him that Naruto was working on something in his head which would have been laughable to Sasuke if it had only been a few months ago.

"Well think about it, all that is essentially is formed chakra with no nature or really any other purpose other than form what I assume to rip large whole in enemies." Naruto explained, Jiraiya nodded at that, "well your right kid the fourth was planning to add a wind element to it," Jiraiya informed, Naruto nodded, "well wind would work with that but sense it's basically in a foundation state right now it could work with any nature, it was actually pretty smart for the fourth to shape it into a sphere." Naruto said, Sasuke looked at him, "why is it being a sphere so important?" Sasuke asked, "Well think about it, a sphere has got to be one of if not the most enduring and strongest shape in nature, just look at the moon or our own planet or even the sun." Naruto informed, both Jiraiya and Sasuke squinted at the sun.

"Huh… never thought of that, but I guess you're right." Jiraiya admitted, Naruto grinned at him, "well I guess I better try it," Naruto began to bring out his hand, "wow there brat take that a good fifty meters away from us!" Jiraiya yelled, honestly Naruto might be extremely smart for his age but sometimes Naruto chooses the worst moments to get excited and act his age for once.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "uhh yeah I guess I better walk ahead of you guys then." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

Over the next few days Naruto, Jiraiya, and Sasuke had been going to town to town looking for Tsunade, it felt like as soon as they got into town she would have already been gone by then. It was like a dog trying to chase its own tail.

Naruto in that time was attempting the to recreate the Rasengan, he knew exactly how it formed but seeing and doing was two different things, Naruto was making progress, he was able to get the Rasengan to about half the size of his palm before it would destabilize. If it wasn't for Narutos' better understanding of chakra then he would probably be way behind in his progress.

Also in that time Sasuke and Naruto became a bit closer in their friendship, the rivalry was still there when Sasuke challenged Naruto that he would master the plasma release before Naruto mastered the Rasengan.

Sasuke was making good progress as well, he could now engulf both of his fists in plasma safely for about three minutes before it became unstable, Sasuke would know when he mastered it when he could safely hold the plasma chakra for around twenty minutes because that would be how long his reserves would allow him to go at his current level but much like Naruto with the Rasengan, Sasuke is actually only trying to master the first part of the full potential of the technique.

* * *

Over the coming week both genin were both growing as ninja and fiends, granted it was a more brutal friendship but that's more of a guy thing. Naruto would insult Sasuke and Sasuke would insult Naruto but they both knew that it was all in good fun.

"Yo duck ass." Naruto said, his new nickname for Sasuke being in reference it his hair style, "what is it whiskers." Sasuke retorted, Naruto's sweat dropped at that, _"man…he's not really good at the nickname thing is he… I don't even think dobe was his idea in the first place." _Naruto thought, "Oi only the chicks get to call me that!" Naruto said while running his hand through his hair in a real Fonzie sort of way.

Sasuke shook his head in annoyance at his friend/rival, "well anyway the perv went off to score with some girl that was obviously interested in me so we're going up to the hotel." Naruto informed.

"Hn" was Sasuke's response, Naruto nodded sagely, "wise words Sasuke," Naruto said.

* * *

The two went up to one of their room whilst they waited for Jiraiya to show up, Naruto decided to meditate, he did not meditate at all for the past week nor did he do it around his teammates when he was pulling up his dobe façade. Sasuke was relaxing on the bed next to Naruto, Sasuke looked over and saw something that he probably would never have guessed Naruto could or would ever do. Naruto was sitting on the bed to Sasuke's left an was in a meditation pose and sitting perfectly still.

Naruto felt at peace when he was in this state, no matter how many times he does it, he would always marvel at the feeling of being one with gravity and chakra.

At first when Naruto was in this state he would become irritable if someone were to bring him out of it, but now ever sense his body became attuned with nature chakra as well, he felt calmer, more at peace with the world but still remained aware and alert.

"Hey d… Naruto," Sasuke said, it was hard calling Naruto a dobe when he saw Naruto like this, Sasuke came to terms sometime after the invasion that Naruto was in truth not a dobe at all, he had been hiding his true strength for personal reasons that Sasuke still did not understand but his Uchiha pride would never let him say out loud that he made a miscalculation in his judgment of the blond.

Naruto opened one eye slightly in recognition, "what are you doing?" Sasuke asked, it was a legitimate question, Sasuke never saw Naruto really meditate aside for being in deep thought that one time at the bridge before the gold mine mission.

"I'm meditating," was Naruto's simple answer, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, "why?" Sasuke asked, he understood meditation was meant to bring peace to one's mind, body, and spirit but he didn't really fully understand why Naruto the usually hyperactive ninja would find a use for it.

Naruto shrugged, "it makes me feel better… more at peace and…" Naruto trailed off when he felt two large chakra signatures coming up the hall towards there door.

Naruto made a subtle gesture to be quiet and alert, "what is it?" Sasuke asked in a hushed tone, Naruto slowly got up from his bed and took out a kunai, "large unfamiliar chakra signatures are coming… its best we leave." Naruto informed, Sasuke slowly began to rise from his bed as well and took out his own Kunai, "we need t-" Sasuke began but was cut off by a knock at the door.

The Uzumaki and Uchiha stiffened, there was a long tense pause of silence, then came the same knock again and a muffled sound of annoyance from a deep voice.

Naruto and Sasuke began to slowly back away towards the balcony of their two story hotel room.

That was when a voice sounded behind the door that made Naruto stiffen and Sasuke's blood boil, "Naruto Uzumaki we know you're in there please open the door." Said the calm monotone voice, Naruto felt Sasuke's killer intent spike at the sound of the voice, he turned his head to see Sasuke's fully matured Sharingan eyes blazing with hatred, "Sasuke wa-" but Naruto wasn't able to finish his thought when Sasuke dashed passed Naruto and wrenched the door open.

Naruto was stunned at the sight of seeing the cold calculating face of Itachi Uchiha, and the tall broad form of Kisame Hoshigaki, two S-ranked criminals standing before him.

"Hello Sasuke…move aside you are of no interest to me," Itachi said dismissively, Sasuke balled his fists in anger, the kunai in this right hand was griped tighter.

"Damn you Itachi…damn you!" Sasuke yelled before attempting to stab his brother, Itachi mealy kicked his little brother back into the room and Sasuke landed at Naruto's feet.

"Come with us Naruto," Itachi commanded while attempting to use genjutsu on him, that did not work for multiple reasons, one was because Naruto had trained to resist most genjutsu, two sense Naruto being a jinchuuriki and having chaotic chakra constantly seep into his system would make him immune to most low to mid-level genjutsu, and also there was his Preta Path that would help Naruto detect the disruption in his chakra there by making him aware so he could properly dispel the illusion.

Seeing Naruto stay rooted in his place, Itachi realized that the illusion had no effect, "well it seems like the brat was able to resist it Itachi… let me chop his legs off so he won't run that's way more easier and fun." Kisame said sadistically while patting the large sword on his back.

While this was going on Naruto was assessing the situation, _"Itachi Uchiha… S-classed missing ninja, skilled in most ninja arts save fuinjutsu and medical ninjutsu, his taijutsu is better than mine. His ninjutsu would be all but useless against me but I don't want to be revealing my trump card if I can't guarantee that he won't be walking away from the battle. His genjutsu probably won't work on me either but I can discount his Doujutsu… who knows what secrets lay in those eyes of his. If it comes to a fight than he would be the one to hang back and run support,"_ Naruto thought.

Naruto quickly turned his eyes to Kisame, _"Kisame Hoshigaki… also an S-ranked missing ninja, skilled in kenjutsu, taijutsu, and water based ninjutsu. Arguably the strongest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, most of my skills lie in mid to long range combat and his chakra is equal to my own. He' strong and fast and with the reserves and endurance, basically he's the tank of the pair... these two are probably the best counter for me at my current level!" _Naruto deduced with growing worry.

In the quick second it took Naruto to deduce his odds, Sasuke was able to regain his footing and charge at Itachi again.

Itachi punched Sasuke hard in the chest which sent him flying, Naruto quickly got in the way before Sasuke could plummet out the window but he was caught off guard when both himself and Sasuke tumbled down out the window to the alleyway below.

Naruto broke Sasuke's fall with his body causing Naruto to become dazed and the wind to be knocked out of him.

Itachi and Kisame appeared at the far end of the alleyway, Sasuke was the first to his feet with all of his pent up anger in his eyes, "damn you Itachi… you wanted me to hate you… well you got it! I'll kill you for what you've done!" Sasuke screamed while his curse seal twitched causing Sasuke lose control of his emotions and charge at his brother with a Chidori in his hand.

Naruto was up on his feet now and yelled at Sasuke, "Sasuke stop h-" but Naruto was unable to finished his sentence when he saw Itachi easily dodge Sasuke's attack, Itachi then went about breaking Sasuke's wrist and in one fluid motion pinned Sasuke to the wall of the alleyway, "Still so weak my foolish little brother…why is that…is it because you don't have enough hatred?" Itachi asked, "Tsukuyomi" Itachi whispered.

Naruto witnessed Sasuke scream in agony before crumpling to the ground, Naruto looked down at Sasuke, for a moment he thought Itachi killed him but he could still feel his chakra, but then the thought came to mind that what Itachi just did might be a fate worse than death.

Naruto looked a Itachi with barely controlled rage, "you bastard! He was finally beginning to let go… he was starting to see the light and now look what you've done!" Naruto yelled.

All the progress that Sasuke was making, all the wounds that were beginning to heal where just brutally ripped open again and for all Naruto knew, Sasuke would be a mental vegetable for the rest of his life.

Itachi was inwardly cursing himself, he did not know that his foolish little brother was starting to become not so foolish after all and he was worried that he went a little overboard.

Naruto's chakra spiked and his killing intent was seeping out in droves causing Kisame to grin manically, "O this kid looks like he'll be fun eh Itachi?" Kisame asked his partner, Itachi remained stoic as ever but on the inside was surprised at the level of power Naruto was showing by his chakra presence alone.

Kisame began to ready his sword while Itachi reactivated his eyes, Naruto entered a ready stance, he could not manipulate gravity around them without showing his eyes and Itachi would realize that he was using a genjutsu to cover his eyes and would see that chakra would be flowing into his eyes even if he had sunglasses.

Naruto was up shit creek, he was not focusing of Senjutsu while he was meditating and all the jutsu that could help him right now would involve endangering Sasuke, Naruto's mind was racing for an answer, all he could think of was flare his chakra in a code that will tell the perv that he was in danger and needed help. If Naruto rushed in with clones to try to grab Sasuke then Sasuke could get caught in the cross fire and be killed.

It was a long few seconds of tense silence, Itachi was calm and stoic, Kisame was chuckling at the thought of a good fight, and his sword clicked and gurgled with anticipation of feasting on Naruto's tasty chakra.

Suddenly walls, floor, and a ceiling of flesh appeared all over the alleyway, Kisame cursed when he saw Jiraiya appear to the boys rescue, "I suggest you two back off!" Jiraiya said angrily, Itachi began to back away, "Kisame… Jiraiya is beyond us… we should make a tactical retreat." Itachi said much to the irritation of Kisame, "no one escapes this jutsu, and you two are coming with me for a little talk." Jiraiya said, Kisame growled in anger and began to tighten his grip on his sword.

"There will be no need for that Kisame," Itachi said has he turned his back and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, "Amaterasu "Itachi whispered, suddenly the entire back wall of flesh was incinerated in an instant and Kisame and his partner darted away from the angered Sennin.

Jiraiya looked down worried for Sasuke and his blond apprentice, "Naruto what happened to Sasuke?" Jiraiya asked, Naruto went over to Sasuke and could tell that he was sleeping but if his twitches and his rapid eye movement was anything to go by than Naruto guessed that it was not peaceful.

"I think Itachi used some sort of genjutsu on Sasuke, he seems to be still affected by it." Naruto reported, Jiraiya looked worried, "we need to keep moving to find Tsunade but Sasuke needs skilled medics to look after him as soon as possible and who knows how long we'll be on the hunt for Tsunade." Jiraiya informed, Naruto nodded, "I can make a more durable shadow clone and have it take Sasuke back home." Naruto offered Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "do it," ordered the Toad Sage, Naruto pumped over ten percent of his chakra into a single shadow clone.

The clone carefully picked up Sasuke in a piggy back position and hurried off to the Leaf, "he's a clone so there's no need for it to rest or sleep; it should get back home in a day or two." Naruto informed, Jiraiya nodded, "well I don't feel comfortable staying hear even if those two retreated," Jiraiya said.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, "do you know why those two would want to kidnap me, and I know they didn't want me dead because if they did than I would have not seen Itachi in the first place." Naruto asked, Jiraiya nodded solemnly, "I do… I should have told you earlier but my mind's been off trying to figure out how we'll get my old teammate back, but from what little information I could gather is that they are a part of an organization name the Akatsuki made up entirely of S-ranked missing ninja, they've been doing mostly mercenary work ever sense they sprung up on the radar but lately there's been talk of them planning to go after the bijuu for something. Itachi and now Kisame are both known members of the Akatsuki showing up and attempting to kidnap you proves this rumor correct," Jiraiya informed.

Naruto took all the information in like a sponge, needless to say Naruto was worried. He may be good but he was not take on two S-ranked missing ninja or possibly more at the same time good. If Itachi and Kisame ever decided to come for him without Jiraiya to back him up at his current level than he might as well put on a red shirt and explore newly discovered planets.

"So I'm guessing I would notice a member of Akatsuki by the black cloak with red clouds on them? Either that or Itachi and Kisame accidently showed up to work with the same outfit on." Naruto said, Jiraiya chuckled at that, "yeah from what I've gathered the black cloak with red clouds is there uniform, the Leaf's been making me keeps tabs on them ever sense Orochimaru was a member but he hasn't been one of them for a while now," Jiraiya admitted.

At the name Orochimaru Naruto's killing intent and chakra spiked for a moment making Jiraiya back step out of instinct. _"Just as I thought… he's still not over that yet, well I can't blame him I want Orochimaru as dead as the next guy, Orochimaru made a powerful enemy that day, if Naruto unlock the other fabled paths then I don't think even I could stop him from coming after Orochimaru."_ Jiraiya mused.

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya were off on the road again, it had been two days sense the incident with the Akatsuki, Naruto's clone dispersed sometime last night and Naruto got the memories of it bringing Sasuke back to the Leaf and explaining his condition to the emergency medical ninjas which operate all hours of the day for this sort of occasion.

Naruto's clone was able to find Kakashi just as the last of its chakra had been dying away and informed him about what happened and Sasuke's current condition, **(AN: In this Itachi and Kisame did not battle Kakashi and the others before going to find Naruto.)**

Naruto was currently holding a Rasengan, he was determined to master it, and Naruto was now able to hold a Rasengan the size of his hand for a good thirty seconds now.

"Hey brat we'll be headed into Tanzaku town soon so I suggest you stop practicing or else you could cause collateral damage." Jiraiya warned, Naruto had stopped and was focusing on the Rasengan in his hands, _"thirty five…thirty six… let's try this!"_ Naruto thought before he bolted to the nearest tree and slammed his Rasengan into the trunk, Naruto was able to drill a circular hole into the tree more than half way into its thick trunk, Naruto jumped back before the tree could fall on top of him.

Jiraiya was impressed at Naruto's progress so far, he didn't even have to do the first three practice steps and already he was able to form an almost stable Rasengan, in a few more days he could very well get it down.

Naruto could have gotten it down faster with clones but at first he just wanted to figure out the feel for the jutsu before he blew up the landscape around him with hundreds of failed attempts via clone training, now he wanted to preserve as much chakra as he could because he had no idea if Itachi and Kisame would try to kidnap him again.

"Alright kid you know the drill," Jiraiya told Naruto, Naruto had been doing this in every town they came across, Naruto would focus on the chakra around him and feel for the largest chakra source. So far they've came up empty every time but this time was different, he could feel hundreds of civilians around him, he searched farther but still no sign of her.

Naruto then went farther into town with Jiraiya looking at him intently, Naruto pushed more focus into his sensory ability.

That's when Naruto felt them, "I feel two chakra signatures that are way too big to be civilians, one feels like jounin levels but not as much as Kakashi, and the other ones about half of my reserves." Naruto reported, Jiraiya smiled, "well what you waiting for lead the way!" The Toad Sage said excitedly, Naruto and Jiraiya walked towards the chakra signatures, the chakra signatures were near the castle in the middle of town.

Suddenly the a large part of the castle collapsed and people could be heard screaming, both Naruto and Jiraiya were taken aback by this, _"I didn't even feel those two new chakra signatures show up… it's just like the time in the forest of death!" _Naruto panicked in thought, he was worried that possibly even more Akatsuki where showing up and now that they figured out that they are looking for Tsunade then they would try to use her a bargaining chip to get to him.

Naruto looked at Jiraiya and both nodded and dashed towards the castle, Naruto and Jiraiya were about to round a corner when they heard a woman yelling, "You better have a damn good reason to be hear Orochimaru!" Said the angered woman, Said snake man was standing on the head of the snake summon that collapsed much of the castle that once stood in the middle of town and standing next to him was his trusted second in command Kabuto.

Naruto was stunned, his body refused to move any farther, his heart began to race and his mind began to see red.

All his mind could think of at this moment was to kill the snake, he didn't even register Jiraiya's hand on his shoulder and his whisper to him to not get involved.

Naruto's chakra spiked so much that it forced Jiraiya to back step away from his blond compatriot, his killing intent was rolling off of him in waves and his eyes burned with hatred that only the Kyuubi could beat.

"Well Tsunade-sama Orochi-" Kabuto began before the killing intent and chakra presence cut him off and had him break out in a nervous sweat.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the street below him, "this chakra…this is the same presence I felt as I left the Leaf during the invasion." Orochimaru whispered to his subordinate, Kabuto gulped down his nerves, he had heard the stories of a figure veiled in shadow obliterate the retreating armies of Sound with ease and he was not looking forward to meeting the person that could kill entire armies as if it was nothing.

"**Orochimaru!" **Yelled the same booming voice that had declared his end shall come.

Tsunade and Shizune were confused, Shizune was nervous and afraid of the massive presence and booming voice, Tsunade smirked at her old teammate, "looks like someone pissed off a powerful enemy," Tsunade goaded.

All four people were stunned when they saw Naruto slowly walk around the corner, his chakra was rolling off of him in a silver haze, "a kid?" Tsunade asked in disbelief, Kabuto who had seen Naruto before was even more surprised, he was aware that Naruto was holding back his true potential but having an awareness that someone might be strong and actually seeing it are two different things.

Orochimaru recovered easily from the initial shock at seeing Naruto with this much power but his mind was working on over drive. _"I don't even feel a drop of the fox's chakra…this is all him, O Naruto-kun you are so very interesting." _Orochimaru thought as he licked his lips in hunger for Naruto's power.

"Well it's nice to see you Naruto-kun I'm sorry we didn't get to play in the forest last time I saw you but I was very busy." Orochimaru said, Naruto's body was shaking in barely controlled rage, _"h…he's a Sennin… he's a Sennin," _Naruto kept telling himself so he wouldn't rush him in a blind rage.

Orochimaru saw Naruto trying to control his rage and decided to have fun with the boy before him, "you must still be so angry about what I did to your beloved surrogate grandfather… you know what he told me before I stabbed his heart?" Orochimaru taunted, and that was all that Orochimaru needed to push the blond.

Naruto growled at him in anger and his killing intent picked up even more, the Kyuubi began to pump Naruto full of its chakra but only served to strengthen him even more and not influence him aside from his whiskers and teeth growing and hands turning into claws.

"**I told you, you were a dead man!" **Naruto roared as he leapt at the Snake Sennin, Naruto's speed surprised everyone in the street, "Naruto stop!" Jiraiya called out, but Naruto was too far gone.

He attempted to gut Orochimaru but the man was too flexible and fast, Kabuto got behind Naruto and attempted to stab him with a chakra scalpel but Naruto was faster and kicked Kabuto down to the street.

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune were stunned at what they were seeing. Naruto was going toe to toe with Orochimaru and was still alive, Naruto attempted to axe kick Orochimaru but the Sennin avoided the kick and made Naruto slam his foot hard on the snake summon and forcing it to dispel.

Orochimaru was caught off guard by his snake platform suddenly disappearing and fell to the ground, Kabuto was immediately by his side with chakra scalpels ready to attack .

Orochimaru looked around him, he saw Tsunade standing there who had recovered her composer and was cracking her knuckles in anticipation, and Shizune had her own chakra scalpels at the ready. While Jiraiya took his preferred taijutsu stance and Naruto was barely contain himself as he leaked so much killing intent that it even made him a bit wary.

Orochimaru wasn't a genius for nothing and he quickly deduced the odds of him wining this battle, at the very most he could kill the young woman with Tsunade and possibly fatally wound Naruto but that would give Jiraiya even more reason to kill him and an enraged Jiraiya was not something one turns his back on.

Orochimaru smiled at all of them, "well this has been… informative, I look forward to seeing you all again." Orochimaru said before Kabuto grabbed him and the two disappeared faster than any of them could react.

Naruto roared in anger and was about to leap off to find them when a voice stopped him, "Naruto remember why we're hear." Jiraiya said, Naruto looked back and just now noticed the two women behind him, one looked nervous and even a little scared while the other looked amused.

Naruto took a deep calming breath, he made his chakra calm down and his body slowly reverted back to normal.

"I almost had him," Naruto said angrily, Jiraiya looked down in disappointment at Naruto, "Naruto you let your emotions cloud your judgment if Orochimaru was serious than he could have easily killed you." Jiraiya told Naruto.

Naruto didn't say anything, he just hung his head down in shame of himself being so easily taunted.

Tsunade was watching the interaction with amusement, this kid in front of her was as brash and quick to anger as a certain redhead she once knew.

"Jiraiya what are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, Jiraiya was about to answer but Naruto interjected first, "we've been sent to look for you… they want you to become Hokage." Naruto said, there was no need in beating around the bush the village needed a leader and it needed one soon the Leaf did not have the advantage that the Sand did where there was very little valuable land in the Land of Wind so they could go without a Kage for a while and run on the council until such time they could find a suitable ninja amongst themselves. But the Land of Fire was covered in valuable land with rich mines to lumber, the Leaf needed a strong leader to ward off the more opportunistic of enemies.

Shizune was shocked by this while Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the blond, "no…no way no how, I will never return to that God forsaken village." Tsunade said with venom, Naruto narrowed his eyes at her she just insulted _his _village.

"Why?" Naruto asked in a cold and even monotone, Jiraiya saw the anger begin to boil in Naruto once again although it was not as uncontrolled as earlier.

"That village took everything away from me, I won't go back let alone become Hokage… that job is a fool's job." Tsunade answered, Naruto saw that she did indeed lose someone, someone very close to her. Naruto understood her point of view somewhat but he still couldn't shake this feeling that Tsunade had given up.

But Naruto's eyes dug deeper, she had lost someone but she was lying when she said that she lost everything, he knew what it looked like to lose everything, he saw it in Sasuke every day.

"Bullshit," Naruto said angrily, Tsunade glared at Naruto, "what you say you little shit! How would you know, you don't know me!" Tsunade fumed, Naruto stared at her, "I called bullshit… you didn't lose everything… you lost a lot but not all of it." Naruto said, Tsunade scoffed at him, "whatever kid…come on Shizune I need a drink." Tsunade said, Naruto saw her begin to walk away and growled in anger, "so you're just going to run, you're going to give up, you'd damn the village that you fought for… that your ancestors built?!" Naruto yelled at her, Tsunade stopped and turned her head, "what is that village to you kid why do you care so much?" Tsunade asked as she turned around, she saw that look in his eyes, Nawaki and Dan had the same look.

"The village is my home, I've fought and bleed for it… I've been tasked to be its protector ever sense my birth, the old man saved me and I would never step on his teachings and abandon the village because I'm going to be Hokage one day and not only that but I'm going to be the best one there will ever be!" Naruto proudly declared, Jiraiya smiled at his student, he saw Minato do the same thing but this time it was different. When Naruto declared that he would be the best Hokage ever Jiraiya had a feeling that one day he could very much back up that claim.

Tsunade saw history repeat itself when she saw Naruto proudly declare that he would be Hokage and she saw just how that ended for them, she wanted to stomp out his dreams hear and now before this kid got himself killed.

"A brat that can barely control his emotion in battle like that can never become Hokage and beside you would just get yourself killed." Tsunade said dismissively, Naruto just shrugged at her, "the risks of being Hokage are the same as being any other ninja but only you have a personal body guards protecting you all the time, it's actually safer being Hokage than being an ordinary ninja." Naruto pointed out her flawed logic, Tsunade gritted her teeth, "well I'm still not going with you." Tsunade said.

Naruto could not understand why she was being so selfish, of course going back might bring up some bad memories, Naruto looked disappointed at the Slug Princess.

"I thought you were strong," Naruto said, Tsunade scoffed at him, "I am... I'm way stronger than you'll ever be."

Naruto shook his head, "no…you're just a coward that's afraid of being hurt… well wake up that's the risks you take when you decided to become a ninja! You lost people I understand that but to give up when you still have things to live for makes no sense, one of my best friends lost everything in one night. His family, his innocence, and now his mind very well could be lost. But he still got up, he still endured cause that's what being a ninja means, we suffer and we endure because we can take it… we do these thing so that other's don't have to. Look at me, I'm a human sacrifice and you don't see me willowing in self-pity!" Naruto yelled.

Tsunade was taken aback by this, she looked at Naruto once again and it soon hit her, _"no.. This can't be… I was told he was dead… why is he hear… why did they lie to me?" _Tsunade thought.

"N…Naruto?" Tsunade asked carefully with a tear begin to well up, Naruto looked confused at this, _"why is she crying…how does she know me?"_ Naruto asked himself, Jiraiya took this opportunity to interject. "Tsunade-hime… now you see why I brought him along, you were told he died that night to keep him safe." Jiraiya said in a soft tone, Naruto looked up in confusion "what're you talking about? How does she know me?" Naruto asked.

When Tsunade heard that Naruto died all those years ago, that was when she gave up, she had moved on from Dan and Nawaki's deaths by the time Kushina showed signs of being pregnant. Tsunade was best friends with Kushina and treated each other like siblings sense Kushina was the last Uzumaki at the time and Tsunade was the last of the Senju when she met Kushina.

The two distant cousins found comfort in the last family they had left, it took the combined efforts of Kushina, Minato, and Jiraiya to help her through her depression.

And when she heard about Kushina and Minato having a son she told herself that she would spoil him just like her grandfather did her.

She was out of the village that night of October tenth, she was busy healing the Fire Daimyo from a poison that was used in an assassination attempt.

But when she came back and the Hiruzen told her that Naruto along with his parents were dead, that broke her and so restarted her same cycle of depression.

But hear he was, that same boy that she was so determined to spoil but never got the chance to was standing before her and telling her that she in fact did have some things to fight for and a reason to live.

Tsunade blinked back tears, "t…they told me you were dead," Tsunade whispered, Tsunade then looked at Jiraiya in anger, "you told me he was dead!" Tsunade yelled, she charged at Jiraiya and ran passed a bewildered Naruto.

Jiraiya was holding his hands up in defense, "now, now Tsunade I.. Oof!" Jiraiya tried to say but Tsunade was already punching a strong chakra infused punch into the perverts gut.

Jiraiya was sent flying into a nearby wall which his body turned it to rubble upon contact.

Naruto was still thoroughly confused, "Oi… mind telling me what's going on!?" Naruto yelled, Tsunade turned to Naruto walked up to him.

She crouched down and looked at him, desperately wanting to believe that he was really hear and this wasn't one of life's cruel tricks again. "What's your name?" She asked in a soft voice that was in direct contrast to her voice that she had been using.

Naruto was taken aback by the change in tone and attitude form the cynical woman before her, "uhh… my name is Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto informed, then Tsunade did something that she hadn't done genuinely for over a decade, she smiled.

"Naruto…I don't know how to tell you this but… I'm your godmother." Tsunade told him, Naruto was once again taken aback, _"how is that possible… she must have known my parents…but why would Tsunade Senju know my parents? Why did they tell her I was dead?" _Naruto asked himself.

"H…how?" Was all Naruto could ask, Tsunade smiled at him again, she could hardly believe it, she had family again. Shizune was all that was keeping her from breaking fully but now she had a reason to smile once again.

"Well the Senju and the Uzumaki are distant relatives… your mother was the last of the Uzumaki and I am the last of the Senju…. We both became friends and were like sisters… she was a good woman, strong, proud, and beautiful, her name was Kushina Uzumaki." Tsunade revealed.

Naruto was taking this all in, "D…did she want me… did she give me up to be a jinchuuriki?" Naruto had to ask, Tsunade put a hand on his shoulder, all her bottled up emotions streamed out in a single tear that she would allow.

"She loved you Naruto… she wanted to be a mother to you so bad, but she died that night I don't know what happened but I know she would rather be hear with you than where she is right now, she would give up her peace in death in a second if it meant she could see you again." Tsunade told Naruto, Naruto smiled brightly at that, he finally got a part of every orphans dream and that was to know something about at least one of his parents.

"A…and my dad?" Naruto began, "did he abandon me, did he leave my mother?!" Naruto said while his voice and anger began to rise at the thought of his father leaving his mother behind.

That's when Jiraiya interjected, "I think it's best we tell him all about this later, this is a lot to take in right now and there could be prying eyes and ears around." Jiraiya said, Tsunade nodded in agreement.

"Alright… lets go talk… I need a drink," Tsunade said, Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune all followed Tsunade to the nearest bar.

* * *

The four were at the bar, Tsunade ordered her drinks while Naruto and Jiraiya ordered some food. "So Naruto… how have you been all these years?" Tsunade asked, it was a natural question to ask someone you thought was dead.

Naruto looked up at the ceiling wondering just how he could tell his godmother about his childhood without making her hate the village even more. When Naruto looked up in thought he involuntarily revealed his scar on his neck which Tsunade saw.

"How do you have a scar?" Tsunade asked, she of course knew the healing ability of jinchuuriki's all share so she was wondering just why Naruto had a scar.

Naruto looked thoughtful at that, "more importantly how did you survive a wound like that, that scar is deep and even with your healing ability you would still be hard pressed to survive." Said Jiraiya who also just now noticed his scare.

Naruto shrugged, "I have no idea... I got this when I was eleven when…" Naruto hesitated, he still did not like to talk about it, the weakness, the hatred, the feeling of his life slipping away. It was the weakest he ever felt in his life.

Jiraiya saw Naruto's hesitation but Tsunade's instincts began to flare up, "what happened?" Tsunade asked with worry in her voice.

Naruto gave a heavy sigh, this was his godmother she deserved to know. "Some chunin wanted to get rid of the 'demon' one day." Naruto said with sadness.

All three others at the table gasped, "who was it, who hurt you?!" Tsunade asked sternly showing her motherly side that she hadn't shown sense Shizune was young.

Naruto shook his head, "they aren't a problem anymore," Naruto said, Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that, "are you sure how where they punished?" She wanted to know just what happened to the two chunin that tried to kill her godson. Naruto really hated talking about this, but he just kept telling himself that he was too far gone now and he started with the truth and he would end with the truth.

"T…they were my first k…kills," Naruto said as he put his head down, afraid that his godmother would be ashamed that he killed at such a young age but what she said shocked him. "Good…they got what they deserved," Tsunade said darkly.

"How did an academy student take out two chunin?" Asked Shizune, it was a legitimate question, Tsunade was worried that it had something to do with the Kyuubi while Jiraiya had a good idea how he managed it.

Naruto looked around at the bar, it was relatively empty but still, a bar was were one goes to get information and the informants tend to be the bar keeps themselves.

"Not hear…do you have hotel room where Pervy Sage could place some privacy seals?" Naruto asked, making both women chuckle at the fitting nickname for Jiraiya.

Jiraiya shook his fist angrily at Naruto, "I told you not to call me that!" Jiraiya fumed, Naruto rolled his eyes.

* * *

The four left to the hotel room that Shizune and Tsunade were staying in, Jiraiya put up the requested privacy seals and Tsunade and Shizune sat on the couch in there room while Naruto and Jiraiya sat on the chairs across from the couch.

"Before I tell you this… are you going to become Hokage?" Naruto asked, Tsunade sighed, she didn't really know, she had hated the position for a long time but on the other hand she would be protecting the village that Kushina, Dan, Nawaki, and Minato loved. And more importantly she could get to know her godson.

Tsunade shrugged, "I don't know…that place holds a lot of memories for me," Tsunade said looking sad, Naruto nodded, "that good then… keep them and make better ones when you return." Naruto told her with a smile.

Tsunade chuckled, "you remind me so much of them you have no idea," she said, Naruto didn't know who she was talking about but smiled none the less.

"Well at least keep the hat warm for me when I take it," Naruto said which earned a chuckle from everyone.

Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed, "I'll go back…but I won't take the hat not until I've seen the village and see how I feel form there."

Naruto nodded, _"well that's as much as I'm going to get for now." _Naruto thought.

"Okay…well to answer your question on how I was able to defeat two chunin is both simple and hard to explain." Naruto said earning confused looks from the women.

"Why is that?" Asked Shizune, Naruto sighed again, "well…I don't really know how it happened but when I was about to...well…when I was about to die I sort of awoke something." Naruto explained, Tsunade was thinking more and more that this had to do something with the Kyuubi.

"What was it?" Tsunade asked, Naruto sighed again and closed his eyes, he then opened his purple rippling eyes and earned a gasp from Tsunade and a confused look from Shizune.

"R…Rinnegan!" Tsunade exclaimed, "I don't understand… what's the Rinnegan?" Asked Shizune.

Jiraiya interjected, "the Rinnegan is a very rare and legendary Doujutsu, it's said the very first person able to mold chakra bore the Rinnegan and had the power to create the moon the Sage of the Six Paths was what he was called and Naruto is one of two people I have ever seen with it and quite possible the only one alive with it." Jiraiya said.

Shizune gasped, it was a common bed time story in hidden villages barely a child that has lived in a hidden village doesn't know the old wives tale but it seems like those aren't just fables after all.

"What can you do?" Tsunade asked genuinely curios, Naruto smiled at them, "Well I currently all I can do is manipulate gravity, absorb and give chakra, and summon any animal without a contract." Naruto said as he listed off all the things his eyes allowed him to do, "don't forget your all five elemental affinities and the fact that it jump started your brain and made you smarter than a Nara," Jiraiya supplied.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at that, "smarter than a Nara… that wasn't very smart rushing Orochimaru like that Naruto," Tsunade said, Naruto nodded, "I know it's just that… when I saw him… I felt like I had during the invasion. I just lost it," Naruto said sadly, Tsunade had heard of the death of her sensei though local gossip but that usually is not good information to rely on.

"The old man…he was the first person to see me as a human…he save me." Naruto said sadly, all the others in the room looked down sadly at the boy sitting on the chair.

"I…I lost it when I found him…I killed all of them…everything with a Sound headband I could find I killed." Naruto admitted, he did not want his godmother to think less of him and he may have made his peace with himself for the most part but it's still hard to talk about.

Tsunade was saddened by this, She never wanted this hard life for her godson but it was just like he said, he is a ninja and he would endure.

The next day Tsunade and Shizune met Naruto and Jiraiya at the main road out of town, Tsunade was much happier now that she got to know her godson that she had believed to be dead for the longest time. Shizune was exited to finally be returning home and Naruto was smiling the largest true smile he had ever smiled in a long time, not only was the Leaf getting a new Hokage but also his family of precious people just grew by two. Tsunade his long lost godmother and Shizune a close friend and almost a sort of older sister figure.

They were all on the road walking at a leisurely pace, that was until Naruto got an idea for a new nickname for Tsunade, "hey granny!" Naruto yelled to the Slug Sennin walking ahead of him, Tsunade's brow ticked and Jiraiya laughed, "Ha… took you a while to come up with that one eh brat? Jiraiya said, Tsunade turned, the look on her face gave Naruto a chill up his spine, "what…did…you…just…say?" Tsunade asked while stepping closer to him with each word, Naruto just smirked at her, _"O yes…that's defiantly her new nickname." _Naruto mentally patted himself on the back before being forced to run for his life down the road headed towards the Leaf by an enraged Tsunade.

* * *

It took only a few days getting back to the Leaf, when the excitement of having a godmother died down Naruto began to worry about Sasuke, that genjutsu Itachi used on him seemed pretty nasty and he was worried for Sasuke's continued mental health, he could remove the seal but he was apprehensive no one knows what would happen if it was removed and Naruto was concerned that if he removed it than it would kill him. Naruto decided if Sasuke became worse than he would have to risk it and remove the seal.

Naruto and company was within sight of the gates, Kotetsu and Izumo were at their usual duty of manning the gates.

Izumo was slumped in his chair, "soooo bored," Izumo complained, Kotetsu rolled his eyes at him, "stop complaining," Kotetsu said, Izumo just slammed his head on the booth, "ugh… entertain me." Izumo said with a wave of his arm.

Kotetsu was about to respond when he noticed a group appear walking towards the gates, Izumo followed his gaze and narrowed his eyes. "O well it seems like Jiraiya-sama and Naruto are back… is that Tsunade-same!?" Izumo asked his partner, Kotetsu grinned, "it seems so." Said Kotetsu happily.

"This place barely ever changes," Said Tsunade as a wave of nostalgia hit her, Naruto smirked at her, "so you've decided to keep my hat warm yet?" Naruto joked, Tsunade rolled her eyes at him, "maybe…but I still haven't really seen the villages now haven't I?" Tsunade asked rhetorically, the group was then greeted by the eternal gate guards.

"Tsunade-sama, it's a pleasure to have you return" Izumo said respectfully, Tsunade nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"Come on granny we need to get you to check up on Sasuke," Naruto called out as he was headed toward the hospital, Kotetsu and Izumo's jaw dropped at Naruto's audacity to call the Tsunade Senju granny.

Tsunade mealy rubbed her temple in annoyance an act that would forever be associated with her when dealing with Naruto's antics.

* * *

Sakura and Ino were visiting Sasuke, Ino visited more because she doesn't have the benefit of being trained one on one with her sensei. Sakura in the two weeks that she was able to get one on one training advanced fairly well in her physical exercises and chakra control. She could now do so much more when it comes to the physical exercises. She still could not keep up with Naruto or Sasuke but she could easily out pace Shikamaru and keep up with Kiba now for a short time.

Kakashi also got her some advanced chakra control techniques, she was able to twirl two kunai in each hand with her chakra, one kunai would hover above her palm while it spun and the other would do the same but on the back of her hand.

Ino and Sakura were not told how Sasuke got in this state but they knew it had to be bad if Sasuke was still in a comatose state.

That was when the door opened and the black clad form of Naruto with a busty pigtailed woman and another shorter burnet woman came strolling into the door.

Sakura and Ino stood up, "Naruto do you know what happened to Sasuke?" Sakura and Ino both asked, Naruto smiled a greeting at them but his face become more serious when he looked at Sasuke, "he's over hear… Itachi used a genjutsu on him… I think I heard the name of it when he spoke the jutsu, I think it's call Tsukuyomi." Naruto informed the busty woman.

Tsunade nodded and went over to his side with hands glowing green while Shizune looked over his charts.

Sakura and Ino looked apprehensive at the two working over Sasuke, "you said Itachi did this Naruto?" Tsunade asked for confirmation, Naruto nodded, "yes…Sasuke was moving on…he was recovering and now I don't think his mind will ever be the same." Naruto said with a sigh.

Sakura and Ino gasped, "what do you mean Naruto… could the genjutsu really be that bad?" Ino asked, Naruto shook his head, "I don't really know but Itachi is a master at genjutsu... first the curse seal and now this… it's a wonder how he's kept it all together." Naruto said sadly, "you keep saying Itachi did this… who's Itachi?" Asked Ino, Naruto sighed, "Itachi was the one who killed everyone that Sasuke as ever loved and betrayed Sasuke… Itachi is his older brother." Naruto said, Ino gasped but Sakura who knew this from their first mission and only looked on in sadness at her teammate's tribulations.

"Can he be helped?" Sakura asked, Shizune decided to answer that question, "he can but it will take time… but from what I know of the Uchiha then he'll probably be too proud and stubborn to ask for it though and you can't force someone to get help either." Shizune answered, Sakura looked almost ready to cry for her crush that was until Naruto put a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry Sakura we'll be there for him like you guy were for me." Naruto said, Sakura looked up at Naruto who was smiling a reassuring smile for her.

Tsunade stopped her examination of Sasuke, "it seems that Sasuke will be out for the rest of the week. You guys need to be there for him we have no idea of the mental trauma that Itachi put him through." Tsunade reported, Tsunade began to leave that was until she looked behind her, "I want you two in my office by tomorrow morning at nine sharp and tell your sensei that if he's late then ill literally knock him out into next week." Tsunade ordered, Naruto smiled at her, "So you decided to keep my hat warm after all," Naruto said, Tsunade smirked at him. "We'll see if your worth of it when the time comes." Tsunade said before leaving with Shizune.

Sakura and Ino looked at Naruto with confusion on their faces, "who's that Naruto?" Ino asked, Naruto smirked at them, "That's or new Hokage… Tsunade Senju."

**(AN: And that's the end of the chapter, I know what some of you are thinking, 'but Dragon Country I feel like Tsunade came back to the Leaf too easily and I felt like this chapter was rushed a bit." Well too tell you guys the truth I wanted this chapter to focus more on how Naruto would cope with loss and the rollercoaster that is grief. **

**I didn't want to write your typical search for Tsunade arch, I have literally read dozens of fics that barely deviate from the canon and I feel like my reasoning for making her go so much more easily back to the Leaf is justified.**

**The next chapter will follow closer to canon but in my true style I won't be making it verbatim. I really enjoyed writing Naruto flip the fuck out in the beginning but don't expect too much of those outbursts. Please review, I want to see what you guys think, I'm worried that this is not my best chapter yet but I'm manly just happy that I finally got to fit in a Star Trek reference. Well you stay classy ) **


	6. How men deal with problems

**The Curse of the Rinnegan **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**How men deal with problems**

**(AN: I feel bad for not doing my best last chapter, I was just so excited for what I have planned that I just wanted to get Tsunade in the Leaf as soon as possible. The reason why I had Tsunade become Naruto's godmother in this story is because I wanted to give her motherly connections to our protagonist, I have followed close to canon so far and it will be like that for this chapter and the next. However do not despair my young apprentices I have a really cool arc that I have planned that I think you guys will love. As you will see following close to canon for this chapter is important to the rest of the story and for the next chapter I could not think of a better way to end it how I have it planned to end and also the chapter after this is important for Naruto's progression. Well let's get to it! ) **

Sasuke was feeling numb, his mind and body was unresponsive. His mind was lost, it was like waking up from a lucid dream and he was having trouble realizing he was awake. His eyes fluttered open slowly; his vision was blurry so the first true senses that came to him was his hearing. He could hear light tapping, it was not constant or repetitive the sound came every few seconds or every few minutes. Sasuke just laid there hearing the sounds while his vision becomes clearer.

He still did not respond to the sounds, the next sense that came to him after his sight was smell. He could smell many things, alcohol and bleach being the most prominent, but there was a faint smell that came directly to his left. He was not an Inuzuka but the smell was strong enough that even he could recall it.

"_That smell…ramen?" _Was Sasuke Uchiha's first coherent thought, Sasuke turned his head slightly to see two people sitting near his bed.

Both people where currently playing shogi, one person was in a long sleeved black shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl covering his chest, this person also wore long black pants with many pockets. The most noticeable features of this person was his spikey blond hair, whiskered cheeks, and ocean blue eyes. _"N…Naruto?" _Sasuke questioned in thought, the other person he could see was the blonds opponent in there game of strategy.

This person had a contemplative look on his face; he had black hair tied up to look like a pineapple, a short sleeved shirt with a fishnet undershirt and a chunin flak jacket, _"Shikamaru?" _Was Sasuke's other question to himself, he did not know why he was hear… he did not know where hear was. The last thing he remembered was being in a hotel room and feeling very angry for some reason.

Naruto and Shikamaru where playing an intense game of shogi, well intense for Shikamaru, Naruto had been controlling the board for most of the game. He allowed Shikamaru to have hope, he saw him smirk slightly when Naruto allowed an opening in his defense. O how he loved to crush that hope, as soon as Shikamaru moved for the opening Naruto put his plans into action, he made Shikamaru dance to his music. Even when Naruto lost pieces that was only because it was fun to see him hope again and see it crumble. In war this strategy would not truly work for in a real war you would not allow your enemy to hope, it is best to make your enemy believe that there cause was bound to fail and when it does you act swiftly and mercilessly, such is the way of war.

Shikamaru sighed when he saw that Naruto had backed him into a corner yet again but this time he left no opening, Naruto smirked at his third victory in a row, he did not like to show off but he always loved to test his mental prowess and he had yet to find a good opponent to test him, the first game was much closer but Naruto was able to pick up Shikamaru's strategy and find a weak spot in it and win by the skin on his whiskers. But by the second game Naruto was able to pick up on Shikamaru's habits and beat him swiftly, the last game Naruto felt comfortable enough to play with him and allow openings that would ultimately lead to Shikamaru's demised.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said with a sigh, he was however pleased that he finally found a decent shogi opponent other than his father, when Naruto said that he was hiding his mental capabilities he had no idea just how much he was hiding, he was pleasantly surprised that Naruto seemed to even more well versed in the art of strategy than he is, that just went to show him how much he needed to improve if he wanted to keep his pride as a lazy genius.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke and found two black eyes looking at him with confusion. "Hey Sasuke…how do you feel?" Naruto asked carefully, Naruto and Shikamaru had opted to both visit Sasuke today, Naruto because he was still worried about his friend/rival and Shikamaru because it gave him an excuse to get out of troublesome tasks.

Sasuke just continued to stare at Naruto, his mind was slowly beginning to reboot, Shikamaru was reminded of the far off look Naruto had the day after the invasion but only this look seemed more confused rather than blank and unresponsive.

"W…where am I?" Sasuke asked, his throat was dry and his voice sounded more like a croak more than anything else. Naruto brought him a glass of water that was next to his bed and Sasuke reached for it and downed the glass greedily.

After Sasuke drank his fill of water that had soothed his burning throat Naruto decided to answer him, "Were back home," Naruto simply said, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. "How… the last thing I remember was being in a hotel room and…" Sasuke trailed off, his mind was trying to repress his latest experience with his brother but as he delved deeper into his memories, his mind could not hold the flood gates and he was brought back to his traumatic experience.

* * *

**Flash Back**

Sasuke was in a world that he just barely remembered in his nightmares, he was laid down flat on a flat stone with unbreakable chains forcing him to the flat stone bed.

Sasuke looked up into the blood red sky, he was struggling against the genjutsu but nothing he tried worked, "welcome back my foolish little brother to the world of Tsukuyomi," came the monotone voice of Itachi from Sasuke's right side.

Sasuke turned his head and fumed at his traitorous kin, "you get off on this you bastard!? You damn peace of shit…I'll kill you!" Saskue screamed, Itachi did not seem like he even heard him, "for seventy two hours you will see just how easily I can take away everything you have gained… you will see just how weak you are and how useless and meaningless you are." Itachi said, Sasuke' head was then forced back to gaze upon the sky above.

Soon the blood red sky gave way to a large image of Sakura; she was at the team seven bridge and was waiting patiently for her teammates. That was until a shadow loomed behind her, blood red Sharingan eyes looking at her with disinterest. Sakura turned around and began to scream, her screams where cut off by gurgling sounds for the shadow had slit her throat with a kunai.

Sakura fell on her knees and the image got closer to her scared and pained face, she was clutching her neck trying and failing to stop the stream of blood falling out of her body. Sakura's face became pale and she looked directly at Sasuke with desperation in her eyes, a single tear feel from her eyes before her face fell unto the blood soaked bridge.

"So weak…like you always have been." Itachi said stoically, Sasuke knew that this was a genjutsu but the image of Sakura with her pained, scared, and desperate expression on her face made him feel sick and empty.

The image of the dead Sakura faded and was replaced with that of Kakashi; he was strolling through an empty street in the Leaf village. Single visible eye on his little orange book without a care in the world, it was then when the same shadow that killed Sakura appeared, Kakashi attempted to ask for identification of the mysterious figure when the shadow whispered something that Sasuke could not hear. Suddenly Kakashi was alight with black flames, his blood curdling screams and burning flesh made Sasuke want to shut his eyes but he found that hi eyes were being forced open and could not shut them.

The black flames burnt everything about Kakashi, from his cloths to this little orange book, even to his mask. But when his mask burnt away all that Sasuke could see was melting muscles and bone.

Kakashi had been rolling on the floor and screaming in pain for a good minute, but soon his screams died when his vocal cords where melted, Kakashi continued to writhe in pain for a moment longer before his struggles stopped and Kakashi was burnt to a crisp.

"You cannot protect them from me… you never have and you never will," Itachi said.

The image of his burnt teacher faded and was replaced with an image that made Sasuke immediately struggle in his bonds. "No…not that…not him….don't you dare you bastard!" Sasuke yelled, Itachi did not respond and proceeded with his torture.

Naruto was smiling happily as he ate ungodly amounts of ramen, Naruto was happy and paid for his meal when he had his fill.

Naruto was walking down the darkened streets towards his home when the very same shadow appeared behind him when Naruto got under a street lamp.

Naruto felt the presence of someone and rapidly turned around to see whom had been following him, Naruto gave a startled yelp when the shadow suddenly blurred towards him and grabbed his neck and slammed him to the ground.

Naruto immediately began to struggle against his attacker; Naruto was being suffocated by the shadow's hand and was attempting to beat the shadow over the head with his own hands. The fiery determination that Naruto was known for was present even in this cursed world that his brother controlled.

Sasuke let a small sliver of hope to well up within him, surly Naruto who would never give up let himself die in such a way, forgetting that Itachi had control over everything in this world for a small moment; Sasuke believed that the immovable will that was Naruto would triumph even in this world.

That hope was crushed when Naruto's struggles became slower and more sluggish, Naruto's determination to never give up was snuffed out and his eye filled with tears, Naruto was dying and his dream would never come true.

Sasuke watched in horror as the hope left the most hope filled person he had ever met, seeing that made Sasuke cry out in anger.

"No matter what you do… no matter how hard you try…you will be weak." Itachi said as he began to make Sasuke watch again and again as he killed his friends in increasingly more brutal yet believable ways.

**Flash back End**

* * *

Naruto and Shikamaru saw Sasuke's look of horror when he remembered what had happened to him, Sasuke looked at his friend and quickly turned away as he felt a single tear threaten to fall out of his eye.

"Sasuke…are you okay?" Naruto asked, Sasuke brushed off Naruto, he began to slowly get up and try to leave his bed, Shikamaru was already on him, "Sasuke you need to take it easy, you've been comatose for almost two weeks." Shikamaru said, Sasuke brushed him off as well and ignored their concerns.

Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "hey you're not at full strength right now… you need to listen to Shikamaru." Naruto tried to reason, Sasuke did not hear those words, Sasuke's curse mark twitched and made him interpret those words differently.

Sasuke scowled at the blond, "get your hand off of me… I'm not weak… I don't need anyone's help." Sasuke growled.

Sasuke then jerked up and stood up on shaky legs, Naruto went to catch him should he fall but Sasuke glared at him dangerously.

Sasuke took a timid step forward and another and another, Sasuke smirked a bit in victory, _"I will recover from this… I will kill you Itachi!" _Sasuke thought, the door to the room opened to reveal a pink haired kunoichi who upon seeing Sasuke standing smiled broadly.

But Sasuke did not see her, no he saw the images of her being brutally murdered before his very eyes, Sasuke could not look at her, he quickly turned his gaze to the floor and tried with all his might to ignore her.

Sasuke might not have shown any out word sign of caring for the girl but he did not hate her enough to wish her harm, she cared for him even if it was annoying who could wish harm on someone that cares for you? She had even made attempts to get to know him; unlike other fan girls she truly cared and wanted to know who he was. He did not know why this was so but the way he cared for him brought back memories when he was loved at one point in his life and she had been truly trying to better herself.

Naruto and Shikamaru saw Sasuke trying his best to avoid looking at Sakura, it was like he was ashamed of something but did not want to say, Sakura however did not notice this and launched herself into a hug.

Saskue was now pledging with her in his mind to stay away, if she did not go away then she would die and he did not want to see that again.

"Sasuke-kun I'm so happy your awake!" Sakura cried, Sasuke pushed her away and began to march out the door, "Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked Sasuke was about to walk out the door when Sakura grabbed his hand, "Sasuke-kun... are you alright?" Sakura timidly asked. Sasuke glared at her, why did she have to care, why did he care? Why did she have to endanger herself by associating with him and his cursed life?

Sasuke wrenched his hand away from her, "I'm fine…just stay away from me." Sasuke said with a cold glare, Sakura held her head down, she felt as if someone just punched her in the gut.

Sasuke quickly left the room leaving a downtrodden Sakura, a worried Naruto and Shikamaru, "what did I say?" Sakura asked herself out loud, Naruto was by her side, "it wasn't you… he's just working though some stuff right now…give him a bit and then we'll talk to him." Naruto said, Sakura nodded sadly and Naruto lead the sad girl out of the room followed by Shikamaru.

* * *

Later that day Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, Lee, and Tenten where all at team tens usual barbeque restaurant eating and discussing some things, Naruto was seated closest to the window with Lee next to him, Tenten across form him, Neji beside her, Choji on his left, and Shikamaru across from him.

Naruto smiled at Tenten when he arrived, she had basically forced Neji to come along but Neji only came because he wanted to know how Naruto beat him in the finals.

They had all ordered there food and where now all talking, mostly Lee was yelling about youth while Choji talked about his favorite foods and Shikamaru slept.

So it was only really Naruto, Tenten, and Neji who were talking.

Naruto decided to start the conversation, "So Tenten… I see you got yourself a chunin vest along with Shikamaru… how did you two get promoted anyway?" Naruto asked, Tenten giggled at Naruto and began to tell him about why exactly she had been promoted.

* * *

**Flash Back**

Tenten along with team ten and Sakura had just secured the wounded contestants inside the hospital. Their job was to now hold the line and stop any and all enemy forces from entering the hospital.

There was sounds of fighting all over and many Leaf shinobi where fighting off the waves of Sound and Sand ninja.

The chunin in charge of the defense of the hospital was giving out orders to the other chunin and genin defending their objective, "you three I want you to go around back and make sure that our guys get help!" The chunin in charge ordered to three random Leaf shinobi.

Gradually the sounds of fighting grew louder down the street leading away from the hospital, a huge explosion ripped away at many building ahead and from the smoke there could be found over a dozen Leaf ninja running away from over two hundred Sand and Sound shinobi.

The chunin in charge of defense of the hospital cursed, "team ten I need you to-" the chunin was cut off when a kunai found its way into his neck, the Leaf ninja turned to see an advanced group of Sand ninja flanking them from the right.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, he had not anticipated this, all the Leaf ninja where beginning to panic without someone to tell them whether or not to defend from the flank or in front of them.

Shikamaru breathed a calming breath, suddenly the world seemed to slow down around him, and Shikamaru analyzed the situation.

"_Ten Sand ninja to our right… four Leaf shinobi are under immediate threat, Tenten has explosive tags… she can delay the advance group for a time… two hundred directly ahead of us… over forty Leaf shinobi in immediate danger. Recommend formation B to stall for reinforcements… it won't give us a lot of time but it could do." _Shikamaru deduced.

Shikamaru looked at Tenten, "Tenten, explosives to the right!" Shikamaru yelled, Tenten nodded and jumped up in the air and through her explosive kunai towards the advanced group of enemies forcing them to back off until a dozen other Leaf ninja got the message and attacked and defeated the ten Sand shinobi.

While this was going on Shikamaru nodded to his teammates, "formation B… Ino you first," Shikamaru yelled, "right" Ino said. Ino forced a lot of chakra into her jutsu; suddenly the first row of enemy ninja stopped and the ones following close behind ran into them making them topple onto the ground, Choji then expanded his fist and crashed it into the middle of the advancing army.

Shikamaru then held them with his shadows, two hundred people where stopped dead in their tracks, Shikamaru had only held the jutsu for a moment but already he was sweating.

Ino had also used a lot of her reserves and was panting and sweating while she crouched on her ground.

Choji stepped up to try to help Ino but an explosion rocked their position and sent team ten flying.

Choji and Ino became unconscious while Shikamaru who was not as close to the explosion attempted to rise.

Shikamaru looked to see that his shadows did not in fact reach all of the enemy shinobi and one ninja threw and explosive tag at team ten.

"Take them back into the hospital," Shikamaru ordered a Leaf ninja behind him, the ninja obeyed and grabbed Ino and Choji.

The two hundred enemy ninja charged at the hospital, only sixty Leaf ninja was standing to oppose them, Tenten appeared next to Shikamaru who was at the front, "they are not getting any farther!" Shikamaru yelled to his comrades which cheered in reply.

Shikamaru popped a solder pill in his mouth and sent his shadows once again to stall there enemies.

"Go… I have them stalled attack only when I release the first row!" Shikamaru ordered, the Leaf ninja gave a battle cry and charged at their frozen enemies.

Many sent kunai and jutsu at the first row, the second the first attack was about to hit Shikamaru released the first row so he would not get hurt due to the side effect of his shadow possession jutsu.

The first row of enemies did not have enough time to dodge and where quickly overwhelmed by the attacks. Many Sound and Sand ninja where hit by the attacks, some died once the Leaf ninja's attacks hit them but most where mortally wounded and will either die soon or at least be out of the rest of the battle. This process of release and attack continued until the Leaf ninja has three rows of the enemy group neutralized.

"Get back I can't hold the shadows!" Shikamaru yelled, the Leaf ninja quickly retreated but they had no time to fall back properly, Shikamaru's chakra left him and he promptly fainted due to chakra exhaustion.

Tenten caught him before he could hit the ground and watched on in horror has over fifty Leaf ninja where steamrolled by the Sound and Sand shinobi.

Only eight Leaf ninja remained to defy the enemies. Tenten stepped up and unrolled her ultimate offensive jutsu.

Tenten jumped up high into the air and rained down a hail of varied sharp and pointy weapons at the enemy ninja. The enemy was forced to stop there advance one again as may where forced to make domes of earth to protect themselves.

Her technique only lasted a few moments but it was enough, soon over three dozen ANBU appeared on all sides of the Sound and Sand ninja and with a silent command the enemy ninja where slaughtered brutally and efficiently.

An ANBU appeared in front of the remained defenders of the hospital, "thank you all… without your help stalling them we would have not made it in time." The ANBU thank the tired defenders. Tenten and the other Leaf ninja gave the ANBU a tired smile before taking the wounded back inside the hospital, three teams of ANBU where assigned to guard the hospital for the remainder of the invasion, but after that first attack the invading forces focused their efforts on other points of interest.

**Flash back End**

* * *

"Wow so I guess the Shinobi council approved promotion for the ninja responsible for protecting the hospital?" Naruto asked, Tenten nodded happily, Naruto whistled, "Beautiful and strong." Naruto flirted with a fox grin making Tenten blush at the complement.

Neji rolled his eyes at Naruto; Neji had no use for flirting he was a Hyuga.

"I'm surprised to see you hear Neji; I had thought that you would not want to stoop so low as to converse with us none Hyuga." Naruto said sarcastically, o yes he had heard of Neji's arrogance the week that he had been waiting for Sasuke to wake up he had met with many of his peers.

He had not been able to see Tenten about his kenjutsu training yet but he has spoken with her along with Lee.

And as he got to know them so did he get to know of the arrogant Hyuga in there team, however after his fight with Naruto he had become more silent and has not really spoken much to his teammates.

One of these reasons was because Tenten was promoted and he was not, Naruto was proud of Tenten and it had been such a hectic week that Tsunade has not had time to go over the results of the chunin exams. Naruto would understand if he was not promoted, chunin should not have emotional outburst like he did during the invasion.

Neji scoffed at Naruto, "I mealy wished to tell you that your win was a fluke, you may have incredible reserves but all of that is useless against a ready Hyuga." Neji said with arrogance.

Naruto tilted his head like a confused puppy which Tenten found cute if her blush was anything to go by, "I almost killed you Neji…I could have at any moment in that fight." Naruto said, it was not arrogance that made Naruto say that, his tone was not full of malice or anger or even annoyance. It was actually confused that Neji did not understand those facts as if Naruto said it like Neji did not understand that the sky was blue.

Neji scoffed again at the blond, "like you could have killed me, I know who you are… you're the dobe of the academy, you failed two other times before you finally graduated, I am a prodigy you could not defeat me in a real fight." Neji smirk believing that he had won this argument, "your ribs said otherwise," Naruto deadpanned, Neji narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "Training ground nine now," Neji challenged, Naruto rolled his eyes, "you're lucky that granny is in the village now Hyuga," Naruto taunted.

Neji and Naruto both shuffled out of their seats, "hey guys stop it we came here to relax," Tenten tried to reason, "don't worry Tenten it'll only take a moment," Naruto said, Neji smirked, "yes, and I shall win this time." Neji said, Naruto rolled his eyes again at the Hyuga.

"Troublesome," muttered Shikamaru as he grabbed Choji and began to follow after Lee who had been yelling about Neji and Naruto's youthful spar.

* * *

Neji and Naruto where facing each other in training ground nine, Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Lee had all come to watch.

Up in the trees near the training grounds Kakashi was observing his student, "my eternal rival Kakashi, what are you doing on this most youthful day?" Gai asked as he appeared beside Kakashi in a nearby tree branch.

Kakashi gave Gai a sideways glance, "it looks like two of our students are about to spar," Kakashi answered. Gai beamed at that, "Yosh, it look like our students flames of youth burn brightly! If my student does not win than I will do three hundred laps around the village hoping on one leg while blindfolded!" Gai yelled youthfully.

Tenten heard Gai even from her distance away and just proceeded to face palm like a normal person would do.

"I shall win this time dead last… I was not fated to win last time but now I shall win for fate as deemed that your win was a false hood." Neji stated, Naruto chuckled at Neji, "If you believe in fate than you would not be doing anything Neji, if you believe in fate than why try? What is the point in getting stronger if fate has already decided what your life will be like? This will be the last time I fight you because your arrogance repels me." Naruto said, Neji growled at Naruto, "how would you know of how fate is, I am of the side branch of the Hyuga, my father was fated to die a slave to the main branch like I am!" Neji exclaimed, Naruto narrowed his eyes at Neji.

"So… if you don't like the hands you're dealt with than change it fight for what you want if you risk death than it is better to die for the sake of freeing yourself from your fate than living a life of slavery." Naruto informed, Neji seethed at Naruto.

"You have no idea what you are talking about!" Neji yelled, Neji then removed his forehead protector to reveal his caged bird seal.

"This is my slave brand…this is the brand that bounds all side branch Hyuga to the main branch when activated this seal can cause immense pain and even death, so you see, you have no idea what it is like to have your life be determined by a seal!" Neji spat at Naruto, now it was Naruto's turn to retort at Neji's ignorance.

"You speak as if you know me Neji…you speak as if your life is as hard as mine, you don't know me and you are nothing but spoiled child who does not know how to fight for himself. People like you who give up sicken me, you have no right to complain about your position in life if you do nothing about it, I had plenty of chances and reason to give up you have no right to give up Neji. You're not a failure like I used to be, you're a prodigy of your clan, you can make a change and fight so stop crying about it and do what needs to be done!" Naruto exclaimed to the pale eyed genin.

Neji was pissed off at Naruto, not just because of his insults but because he found himself seeing what Naruto was talking about but never the less Neji was a male and he was angry and as an angered male he needed to take out his rising testosterone levels and hit things.

Neji dashed forward towards Naruto, Neji attempted to strike at Naruto's heart but Naruto ducked under the blow and swiped at Neji's legs, Neji jumped up and landed away from the blond.

Naruto still had no proper taijutsu style so he only had a modified version of the academy taijutsu style which was far inferior to the Hyuga taijutsu style.

Neji sprinted towards Naruto again and attempted to feint a kick to the ribs while he flanked him from the sides.

Naruto dodged the fake kick and was surprised at the speeds that the Hyuga was able to almost hit him, had Naruto not surprised Neji the way he did in the finals than that fight would have been much more interesting.

* * *

Ko Hyuga had been looking for Neji for the past few hours, Hiashi-sama had ordered him to find Neji for he would need to be doing important things and needed to find someone to train Hanabi.

Ko had scanned around with his Byakugan to find Neji and was able to find his chakra signature at training ground nine what he saw had him stunned.

* * *

Naruto and Neji had been fighting for a while now, well Neji has been fighting and Naruto has been dodging, Neji was annoyed that he could not hit Naruto, Naruto on the other hand feels that he has had it with this spar and begins to charge at Neji.

Neji readies himself for an attack, Naruto stretches out his right hand and a swirling ball of chakra appears in his hand, _"just got to keep the power down, if I hit him with this than it'll be nothing that granny can't fix." _Naruto mused.

Up in the trees Gai and Kakashi were stunned at what they were seeing, "Rasengan," Gai said in amazement at seeing Naruto perform such a high ranked jutsu, Kakashi nodded, "Kakashi… should we stop them, if Naruto hits Neji with that then it could cause some serious damage." Gai said worryingly, Kakashi looked at the Rasengan with his Sharingan and shook his head, "no… Naruto is purposefully under powering the jutsu." Kakashi explained, Gai gave a sigh of relief.

Neji could see the Rasengan coming at him, _"shit… he's too fact… got to rotate!" _Neji quickly rotated like a spinning top and suddenly a chakra barrier met with an underpowered Rasengan, the results made Naruto fly away from the explosion cause by the clash but he managed to land on his feet.

* * *

Ko was staring wide eyed at the technique his fellow branch member just used, the reason for his surprise was because that was a jutsu reserved for only the main branch, how Neji learnt it was a mystery to Ko. _"Hiashi-sama would want to hear about this," _Ko mused, Ko immediately left towards the Hyuga compound.

* * *

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Neji, "you see just how futile this is… that is the Hyuga's ultimate defense, you cannot win this." Neji said arrogantly, Naruto shook his head at Neji's arrogance, "so why do you try Neji? You never gave me an answer, or are you just a hypocrite who says that fate dictates your life and yet you fight like you want to change your fate. What is it Neji, do you wish to be a slave or do you wish to be free?" Naruto questioned, Neji narrowed his eyes at Naruto, could he not see that Naruto would lose this fight.

"_Or maybe… he did not want to fight at all." _Neji mused, Naruto blurred towards his position and attempted to hit him, Neji ducked under the punch and got into his stance, "you're in my field of divination," Neji said with a smirk.

Naruto looked down to see Neji make quick thrusts with his hands to attempt to close off his chakra points, it was a fruitless effort, Neji was so focused on closing up Naruto's chakra points that he did not see Naruto channel chakra into his eyes, he did however notice that the second he attempted to close off Naruto's chakra points the chakra Neji would use to close them off would be immediately absorbed.

Neji jumped back to see Naruto standing there with his head held down, Neji could see only the faintest amount of chakra leave Naruto's eyes. _"what…no impossible…there has to be another explanation." _Neji reasoned.

Kakashi and Gai were stunned, no one had walked away from that technique without having to force your chakra points open and neither Kakashi or Gai could sense Naruto flaring is chakra. So how come Naruto was able to walk away from it… did he put some sort of seal on himself?

Tenten and Lee were also stunned by this, never before have they seen Neji fight so seriously in a spar.

Naruto looked at the Hyuga, "Neji…why do you fight?" Naruto asked Neji, Naruto hates seeing people give up, he did not allow himself to give up even at the worst of times, so seeing someone as promising as Neji give into fate sickens Naruto. When Naruto saw Neji he saw a blind man that needs to see, a person that can be truly great but just needs a little push.

Neji was panting after sparing for so long, he had good reserves and good control but he did not have the Uzumaki stamina to keep him going. Neji narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "what's it to you…why do you care?" Neji said accusingly, Naruto just looked at him calmly, "because Neji…despite what you say you have not given up… if that was true than you would not be a ninja now would you? You have a potential to be great but yet you refuse to believe so, you are arrogant because of the power of your eyes yet you bow to the notion of fate. Yes you may have had your troubles in your time but that is no reason to give up, I say stop acting this way, stop believing one thing and doing another, either fight to better your family or give up to the whims of you slavers. That is your choice, you did not want to fight me because you thought our fight was a fluke, you wanted to see I was truly as strong as I am said to be is that right?" Naruto questioned.

Neji did not know what to do, life was cruel to him and for the longest time he had believed that it was just fated to happen, but hear comes this boy just a year younger than himself who has faced probably worse hardships than himself and he had not given in, he had fought against the hand he was dealt and made his life better.

"What was it…that made you not give up…if your life was truly as bad as you said it was then what happened to make you not give up?" Neji asked truly curious, the other genin were also curious, Shikamaru was not blind to the way Naruto is treated by the village, but yet Naruto has not given into hatred or given up.

Naruto smiled sadly at him, "the old man saved me… he found me when I was ready to give up, I was only five and was nearing dying of starvation… he held out his hand and helped me, I did not get strong alone… I had help, friends and precious people and I fight for them, that is why I never gave up, that is why I am strong." Naruto said proudly, Neji was taken aback, he had thought for a moment that Naruto had not given up all by himself but yet he proudly declares that he was helped when he was weak.

Neji had to think about things, Neji looked at Naruto and nodded at him, it was a simple gesture but that nod meant a lot coming from Neji.

Neji began to walk away without another word, Ko then appeared in fort of Neji, "Neji…Hiashi-sama would like to speak with you immediately." Ko said, Neji nodded and the two left toward the Hyuga compound.

Naruto turned towards his peers, Lee was smiling broadly and giving him a nice guy pose, Choji had found some potato chips from somewhere and had been eating them. Shikamaru was just shaking his head and muttering "troublesome," every few seconds, and Tenten looked confused.

"Uhh so what was that all about?" Tenten asked, Naruto shrugged, "guys don't go to therapist we fight out our troubles." Naruto said simply, Tenten just face palmed at Naruto's words.

* * *

Sasuke had secluded himself from all others, he was in his clans private training grounds inside the compound, he was pushing himself in a near suicidal training regimen, he refused to be weak, he refused to let Itachi just kill everyone he has a connection with.

Sasuke was busy punching training dummies as fast as he could, Sasuke jumped back and formed a Chidori in his hand and rushed at a dummy, Sasuke tore it apart and formed another Chidori, _"I need to make more… Itachi will be able to avoid two… I need to get better!" _Sasuke thought, Sasuke smashed even more training dummies with his second Chidori. Sasuke was panting heavily, _"I need to push it… I need to do better!" _Sasuke screamed at himself, Sasuke then formed a third Chidori when previously he could only make two before he got exhausted, Sasuke rushed at the last training dummy and smashed it with a fist full of lighting.

"I…n…need to…get…better," Sasuke said out loud in between gasps for air, Sasuke then promptly fell on his face in a heap of broken wood from the training dummies he just massacred.

* * *

The next day Naruto found himself inside the Hokage's office, he had only been hear once ever sense his godmother took the job but that was only for Tsunade to tell him and Sakura that they would be doing D-ranks without their sensei for a few days due to Kakashi being needed for higher ranked missions. The Invasion had done this to many other genin teams; every ninja has been scrambled as to appear that the Invasion had not weakened the Leaf at all. Contracts had been accepted just like normal, patrols had picked up, the damage is almost repaired, yep the Leaf is just as strong as ever.

Tsunade was currently signing paperwork for more missions and paying the workers who had finished up repairing the building they had been contracted to repair. Naruto was lounging in the chair from across her desk, only a few ninja are allowed to be so relaxed in the presence of the Hokage and Naruto is just one of those people, even if she wasn't his godmother he would still be informal around her.

Naruto was twirling a kunai in the air with his chakra out of boredom when suddenly he heard Tsunade clear her throat to get his attention, Naruto looked over at her while he still had the kunai spinning in his hands, "you wanted to see me granny?" Naruto asked, Tsunade's eyebrow ticked, "show some respect brat I'm your Hokage now!" Tsunade yelled, Naruto shrugged at her, Tsunade sighed in annoyance at her insubordinate godson.

"Well any way this is about whether or not I promote you to chunin," Tsunade said, she then took out a report file documenting Kakashi and Jiraiya's account on what happened during the invasion, she also took out reports form Kurenai, Gai, Asuma, and Ibiki.

Tsunade had read these reports before and she was saddened by what they said and also angered at Orochimaru for causing Naruto so much pain that he turned into a different person.

Tsunade reread the reports and sighed; she then put the reports in a pile and waved them at Naruto, "do you know what these are?" Tsunade asked Naruto shook his head, "these are detailed accounts on your little episode during the invasion, and an interesting account by Kakashi and Jiraiya on how you began to order everyone around forgetting the chain of command." Tsunade explained, Naruto tiled his head in confusion, "order people around…I don't remember that," Naruto admitted, Tsunade nodded, "I figured that, but it's not important right now what is important is how you handled that situation."

Naruto nodded, "care to explain yourself?" Tsunade asked, "All I did was put down some wild animals that would have lived on to help a snake," Naruto said with a shrug, he meant it to, he hated everything about that snake and he would take great pleaser in destroying every remint of Orochimaru.

Tsunade shook her head at that, it was not good for someone like Naruto to keep thinking along those lines. "Although I will not dismiss that you did help save the village when you single handedly defeated a fully transformed Gaara and I will admit that had those Sound ninja be left alive than they would have lived to cause more trouble, it still makes me wary of promoting you Naruto." Tsunade informed, Naruto nodded at that, a chunin should not let his or her emotions control their decisions and it would not do if Naruto is promoted and lets his anger take control again.

"I understand," Naruto said, Tsunade smiled at Naruto's maturity, he might have lost it in the invasion for a short time but who wouldn't in his position, Tsunade herself had lost it after Dan died in her arms and she charged at the enemy in her rage and killed hundreds that day. Minato Namikaze did the same thing when Minato got a rumor that the 'Red Death of the Leaf' had been killed, on that day he killed thousands of Stone shinobi and got his nickname 'The Yellow Flash' after he slaughtered the entire army in his rage.

Thinking along those lines Tsunade came to her decision, "Naruto, remember to not lose yourself to hatred a lot of good shinobi have died because of it, with that in mind I think your actions are still good enough to warrant your promotion to chunin." Tsunade declared with a smile, Naruto beamed at her, Tsunade threw him a chunin vest which Naruto happily put on over his long sleeved shirt.

Tsunade's face then became serious, "how's Sasuke?" she asked, Naruto sighed, "he's been distant I don't know what Itachi showed him but whatever it was has only made him more obsessed and I fear that his curse mark is taking advantage of his emotional state." Naruto admitted, Tsunade rubbed her temple, "I think this is just what Orochimaru has been waiting for, if Orochimaru offers him power than Sasuke might leave the village, if that happens than we will have no choice but for you to remove the curse seal despite the risks." Tsunade said Naruto nodded sadly, "I understand if I remove the seal it could kill him but death is better than being a slave to that snake." Naruto agreed, Naruto then left the Tsunade's office to go and check on his Uchiha teammate.

* * *

Sasuke was once again in his clans training ground, currently he is running through katas of the Uchiha's taijutsu style, Naruto calmly enters the training ground along with Sakura.

Sasuke sees them out of his peripherals and stops his training, "what are you two doing here?" Sasuke growled, Sakura stops in her place at the coldness of Sasuke's glare, Naruto was unaffected by it and continued to walk closer.

"I just came here to offer help with the plasma release Sasuke it is very dangerous without my ability, Sakura is here because she is worried about you." Naruto said nonchalantly as he walked closer to Sasuke.

The seal on Sasuke's neck twitched, "I don't need your help," said Sasuke as he turned away from his teammates, Naruto shook his head, "is that you talking or the seal?" Naruto asked in a sad tone, Sasuke whipped around and growled in anger at Naruto.

The seal on his neck twitched again and Sasuke's right hand formed a Chidori, Naruto was taken aback by Sasuke's sudden violent outburst. "Get out of here and take the pink bitch with you!" Sasuke said in a threating tone.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, no one insults his friends, Naruto puts out his hand as well but is careful not to put too much power in his growing Rasengan.

"Sasuke…take that back," Naruto said in an equally threating tone, Sakura was stunned at her two teammates, _"they're going to kill each other!" _Sakura panicked, Sasuke's response was to leap at Naruto with a Chidori in this hand, Naruto responded in kind with a Rasengan in hand. Of course he could just absorb the Chidori but he wanted Sasuke to tire himself out so he would listen to him.

"Stop it you idiots you're going to kill each other!" Sakura yelled, she did not even realize that she had just called Sasuke an idiot as well even if he was being one.

Both Chidori and Rasengan met with a bright light and a pulse of energy that pushed Sakura on her ass.

From the bright white light came Sasuke flying back and landing hard on the ground, Naruto appeared on the opposite side of the bight burst of energy but he landed gracefully on his feet.

Sasuke was on his back, his curse mark had stopped twitching and he was just staring up at the sky, Naruto walked over calmly to Sasuke and offered up a hand which Sasuke hesitantly took.

"Better?" Naruto asked, as he pulled up the Uchiha, Sasuke gave no response and began walking back to his house, Sakura was looking on with worry for her crush she walked towards him tentatively, "a…are you okay Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, Sasuke looked back at both his teammates, "I'm fine…now please leave," Sasuke said and walked towards his house.

* * *

Hidden out of sight and covering up there chakra signatures hid the Sound Ninja Four, "the Uchiha is ready to take," Said Kidomaru said with a smirk, Jirobo nodded in agreement, "so why don't we just take the fucker?" Tayuya questioned. "Quiet we must be patient and approach him tonight," Sakon hissed, Tayuya narrowed her eyes but nodded nonetheless, the Sound Four then disappeared to make preparations for their mission.

* * *

Later that evening Naruto was at one of his favorite places in the village, he hasn't come all that often even sense his awakening of his Rinnegan but when he does come he usually eats enough to make up for his absence.

Ayame then gave Naruto another bowl of his precious ramen, Naruto smiled at her, Ayame and her father are a part of the first three people who ever showed Naruto kindness, Ayame even though being only three years older than Naruto. Ayame had showed enough maturity not to go with the popular belief and give Naruto the benefit of the doubt when they first met.

Teuchi has always lived by a code in his life and that is that you cannot judge a man unless you have walked a mile in his shoes so he also gave Naruto a chance when he first met him and neither Teuchi or Ayame regretted there decision.

Ayame smiled back at Naruto, "this is all on the house by the way Naruto, as thanks for protecting us during the invasion." Ayame beamed, Naruto just waved her off, " it was nothing Ayame, you and old man Teuchi have done more for me that I cannot possible begin to repay." Naruto told the girl.

Ayame just shook her head at Naruto, all they did was be kind to him that's all she remembered anyway, Naruto just looked at her, "do you not remember?" Naruto asked, Ayame got a confused look on her face, "remember what?" She asked, Naruto shrugged and left the money on the table and ignored Ayame's protests. Naruto walked away towards his apartment, he had some questions to ask and there is only one being who can answer them right now.

* * *

At the same time Sasuke was in a tree contemplating things when suddenly Kakashi appeared in the tree branch next to him, Sasuke noticed this but did not greet him.

Kakashi sighed, "you know Sasuke pushing people away isn't healthy you need to realize that your friends really are worried about you." Kakashi said, Sasuke glanced over at the masked jounin but did not reply.

Kakashi shook his head sadly, "well I'm always willing to help you Sasuke so are the rest of your teammates, don't go throwing away all that you've gained in your hatred for your brother." Kakashi lectured, Sasuke sneered at Kakashi, _"doesn't he realize that I want to keep them away from me?" _Sasuke asked himself.

Kakashi sighed again at the Uchiha and stood up, "just remember that you don't have to do this alone... talking really does help Sasuke," Kakashi said before diapering in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke gave a sigh of relief but before he could relax again four shadows appeared all around him. Sasuke jumped up and got into a ready stance, suddenly a spider like web shot out form one of the shadows and trapped Sasuke to the tree he was on.

Sasuke struggled but the more he did so the more the web tightened around him. "What the hell do you want…who are you!?" Sasuke yelled angrily, Sakon approached from the shadows with a smirk on his face, "to give you a message," Sakon said simply, Sasuke glared at the Sound ninja, before attempting to get out of the webs again.

"You can't get out so you might as well stop struggling those webs are unbreakable." Kidomaru said arrogantly, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him, "eh fuck it lets just take the bastard and get it over with!" Tayuya yelled impatiently, Jirobo shook his head at her, "language Tayuya it isn't a very good representation you are giving to the rest of the Sound village." Jirobo lectured, Tayuya scoffed at him, "shove it up your fat ass you limp dicked fuck up," Tayuya insulted.

If Sasuke wasn't being under threat right now then he would have been amused at the banter but right now he needed to think of a plan before these ninja kidnap him.

Sakon ignored Tayuya and proceeded with the mission, "Sasuke Uchiha… our master Orochimaru-sama invites you to join him and in return he shall give you the power you need to kill your brother." Sakon revealed, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Sakon.

He was conflicted, he wanted power to kill his brother to both avenge his clan and to protect his friends from him and at the same time he felt this strange urging to accept, but he would be abandoning the village for a traitor, moreover he would be joining the man that Naruto as a vendetta against, that would be like if Naruto partnered up with Itachi, bros don't become friends with another bros target for revenge that's rule forty one in the bro code of the Leaf ninja.

Sasuke gave no answer in the end; Sakon took it for what it was and ordered Kidomaru to release the Uchiha. Sakon then bent down and released a small pulse of chakra into Saskue's curse seal making it pulse rapidly.

"That is the small sensation of the power that Orochimaru will give you… meet us by the main gate tonight when you make the right choice." Sakon said before the Sound Four disappeared.

* * *

Sasuke was on autopilot as he walked towards his home, his heart told him to stay but his mind kept hearing whispering temptations, the curse seal was sending him occasional images of him defeating Itachi with the power he would gain from Orochimaru, he would see images of his friends being safe and growing up because of the power Orochimaru would offer him. _"I won't let you take them away Itachi… even if they hate me for this… I won't lose any more people!" _Sasuke decided.

Sasuke packed all he needed into his bag, some extra cloths, some food rations, extra kunai and shuriken, and a picture of his team that he had taken out of its frame for convenience.

* * *

Sasuke began walking out of the village with his curse seal whispering to him and urging him forward, Sasuke's eyes glazed over when he felt almost exited for what the curse seal was whispering to him. His mind began to fantasize about the power he would be gaining in order to kill his brother and his curse seal was also using his attachment to his friends against him as well.

Sasuke was taken from his reverie of his potential power he would gain from allying with the Snake Sennin when he saw the familiar from of Sakura standing in front of him looking sad and…angry?

Sakura was on her way home when she spotted Sasuke with a back pack and on a road that leads out of the village, putting two and two together she realized what he intended to do and it made her sad and also feel betrayed.

"Sasuke…where are you going," Sakura asked in a voice that could only be heard by the originator of the voice and Sasuke himself.

Sasuke looked at the girl he was planning on betraying for her own safety, he had not anticipated her being hear, it hurt him seeing that look of betrayal on her face, but this was for the best.

"Nothing Sakura go home it's late," Sasuke said as he began to walk past her but he was stopped when a firm hand griped his left forearm, "Sasuke…are you leaving the village…are you leaving us…are you leaving me?" Sakura said that last part in barely a whisper, Sasuke tried to wrench his arm away from Sakura but was surprised when her grip tightened.

"Let go Sakura," Sasuke said trough gritted teeth, Sakura just got angrier, "Sasuke...why are you doing this?" Sakura asked Sasuke just stared at her; they stood there in the darkened street for a long time just staring at each other.

Sasuke's curse seal grew impatient and sent its influence towards Sasuke's mind, Sasuke's body obeyed and soon Sakura found herself pinned to the ground in a blur of movement, Sakura tied to get up but Sasuke had her pinned down with his right knee to her back and his arms holding down hers.

Sasuke's cure seal got excited and sent another wave of influence towards the Uchiha's mind, again Sasuke's body obeyed and Sasuke drew out a kunai, Sasuke was about to plunge the kunai into a lethal spot on her back that was meant to stab her heart when Sasuke fought back at the last second and only stabbed her shoulder blade, Sakura tried to let out a scream of pain but Sasuke quickly crouched down farther and put a hand over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry…please… just don't come after me…I have to do this," Sasuke whispered to her, Sakura was about to respond to him but Sasuke struck a presser point at her neck and knocked her out.

Sasuke then sat her down on a nearby bench, he sent Sakura one last guilt ridden glance before leaving her in the night.

* * *

Naruto was in his mindscape, this was the first time in a while that he had spoken to his tenant, the events of the invasion filled his head, what did Shukaku mean about the eyes of his father, who was the Sage of the Six Paths really? What is the purpose of the bijuu if the where created by the sage then they must have a purpose right?

All these questions and more filled Naruto's mind, Naruto was now gazing upon the Kyuubi with his Rinnegan eyes piercing the darkness. Naruto had not ill will towards the fox, in fact he was intrigued and humbled by it, this being is literally chakra with a conscience a being so powerful that the ignorant has claimed that it is a demon for the ignorant fear what they do not understand.

Naruto had no such ignorance, due to his advanced mind and understanding of chakra he is able to gleam a little bit of insight that is the puzzle known as the Kyuubi. If one truly thinks about it, the bijuu are no different from humans. Physically of course the two being are noting alike with only sharing the common link with chakra. But mentally, the parts that separates sentient being form beasts there is little difference, the bijuu can love and they can hate, they have the capacity for great good or great evil. Such is the same for humans, the bijuu have a sense of individuality and their own personalities and quirks, they have their own moral code and can learn and share their experiences with others and are aware of the world around them.

All the things that separates man from beast the very thing that man holds pride in is shared with the very beasts that they have enslaved.

Naruto was staring intently at the ancient being before him, the knowledge and experience of hundreds if not thousands of years lay casually before him. Such a being deserves to be respected not trapped and enslaved. That Is why Naruto is humbled at the sight of the Kyuubi, he is aware of the knowledge that the Kyuubi holds, he does not fear it but is intrigued by it, who wouldn't be in Naruto's position?

"**Are you just going to keep staring at me are do you have a purpose for this little visit?** Asked the great fox lord, Naruto kept his gaze on the Kyuubi, "what is your purpose Kyuubi?" Naruto asked the Kyuubi opened a crimson eye slightly in amusement, **"What makes you think I even have a purpose, I'm nothing more than a mindless force of nurture remember?" **Said the Kyuubi with a hint of venom in his words, "I suspect that the sage created you… I might not know the old sage but I get the impression that he was never one to do something without a purpose behind it." Naruto admitted, the Kyuubi rolled one visible eye at the human, **"of course the sage had a purpose to all things he did, unlike you who is just running about aimlessly misusing your gift on such petty mortals and trying to become leader of an ungrateful village." **The Kyuubi sneered, Naruto just waved off Kyuubi's comment, "they are blinded by grief and hatred, those two emotions can turn even the greatest of beings into noting more than beasts as you probably know." Naruto stated the Kyuubi narrowed his eye dangerously at Naruto at the veiled insult.

"**And you are one to lecture me about not letting hatred consume you? I can feel it still stirring inside of you, you have hate, you have anger, you are just as much a beast as I am. The sage never let his emotions control him." **Spat the Kyuubi, Naruto just crossed his arms, "I never said I wanted to be like the sage, I am my own person." Proclaimed Naruto, the great bijuu was taken aback slightly by this, his father was a great and powerful man and to hear someone say that they had no intentions to follow in his footsteps was a surprising. Their conversation would have gone on longer but Naruto began to get a foreboding feeling in his gut.

Naruto then felt his mind being pulled into the realm of the wakened world when he began to hear a faint knocking sound and a hurried muffled voice.

* * *

Naruto's eyes shot open and he instinctively jumped out of bed while grabbing the kunai he hides under his pillow, Naruto scanned his room quickly before realizing that the sound was coming from his apartment door.

Naruto kept a firm grip on his kunai and went into his living room, he made his way towards his apartment door when he heard a voice from the other side, "Naruto wake your ass up the Hokage needs you for a mission!" Yelled the angered voice of Tenten, Naruto quickly opened his door to find a half awake Nara and a chunin with hair buns at his door.

Naruto was standing at his door with only sweat pants on, Tenten fought down a blush at seeing Naruto's well-kept body.

"I'll be out in a few," Naruto said quickly before slamming the door and running to grab his gear, Naruto quickly put on a long sleeved shirt with his clan emblem covering his chest, his now black chunin flak jacket, black cargo pants with black steel toed combat boots.

Naruto idly rubbed his irritated forehead with what felt like growing pimples on either side of his forehead. _"Damn…I'm goanna have to ask granny to look into this annoyance later."_ Thought Naruto before putting on his black headband and rushed out of his room while grabbing his already full utility belt.

Naruto rushed out of his apartment with Tenten and Shikamaru following closely.

* * *

The three of them soon arrived to find Neji and Lee already waiting for them in the Hokage's office with a bandaged and tear stained Sakura.

Feeling the serious tension in the room Naruto immediately dawned his professional ninja mode that has become rather new to his personality, when off mission or at least when not on a mission of importance he was a fun loving yet calm and collective preteen, but when on a mission he becomes serious and calculative and professional.

Tsunade noticed the shift in Naruto by noticing the shift in his posture and facial features, he came in with his usual glow of happiness but when he noticed the seriousness of the situation his face become stern and serious. _"Good, he knows when to cut the shit and be a real ninja and when to be a normal person." _Praised Tsunade in thought, Naruto looked directly at Tsunade. "What's the situation?" Naruto asked, Tsunade straitened herself, readying for a possible outburst of killing intent.

"Last night Sasuke Uchiha was seen leaving the village , Sakura tried to stop him but he attacked her, he was seen leaving with four Sound ninja and our ninja engaged them, but they were soon defeated and only one ninja was left alive to report the disturbance." Tsunade explained, she was ready for the burst of killing intent, anything to do with Orochimaru would invoke a wrath that few would be able to tame in Naruto.

The other people in the room where looking carefully at the blond chunin, Naruto was stunned at the news, _"Sasuke… he left us… he left us… no… it was that seal… that poison feed off of his traumatized state and took hold… that's it… you leave me no choice Sasuke, either I remove the seal and free you, or I remove the seal and stop Orochimaru from using you." _Naruto thought before taking a calming breath, o he was indeed going to kill those Sound ninja with great prejudice, but he would keep a clear head about it.

Naruto steeled himself, "orders?" he asked simply, Tsunade inwardly smirked, _"he's learning fast, I can still see he's pissed off to all hell but he's able to keep a clear head about it… advanced mind indeed." _Tsunade inwardly praised her godson.

"Naruto, you will lead a team consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Tenten, Neji Hyuga, and Rock Lee, your orders are to bring back Sasuke Uchiha alive and to kill or capture the Sound ninja in his company." The Hokage ordered, Naruto nodded, "which way did they go?" Naruto asked, "They were spotted by leaving through the north gate, there's only one fast rout to the Land of Rice Fields so I recommend following that rout." Tsunade said, Naruto nodded again and motioned for his team to follow.

Naruto's team arrived at the north gate, "alright Neji I want you at the front scanning for traps and enemies Lee and I will take the flanks while Tenten is in the middle with Shikamaru in the rear," ordered Naruto, everyone nodded and assumed the formation and took off with a wordless signal from the team captain.

* * *

The Sound Four had been running at top speeds all night and well into the next day, Jirobo had been carrying Sasuke in a barrel shaped coffin for the last five hours, the Sound ninja where elite bodyguards to their snake lord so they had to have good stamina to keep up with the Sennin. However they had not sensed any pursuit as of yet and they began to tire, it also helped that they were over confident so they decided to rest up in a clearing before they made the last few miles into Rice Country.

"Let's stop hear for a while," Sakon ordered, Jirobo was grateful for the chance to rest and sat down the barrel contacting the transforming Uchiha.

"Kidomaru set up traps so we won't be surprised while we rest," Sakon said with a wave of his hand before resting on a nearby log.

"Fucking hell my legs are bitching up a storm," Tayuya complained while she rubbed her sore legs, Kidomaru chuckled at that and began to set up his traps.

* * *

Hours later the Sasuke retrieval team suddenly came to a stop when Neji who was on point signaled to the team of incoming danger, Naruto landed beside Neji, "do you see them?" Naruto whispered, Neji nodded, "yes…and it seems like they are resting, but be wary of hidden traps," Neji cautioned. Naruto nodded and signaled for his team to gather around for orders, "we need to be careful about this…Neji will continue to scout them the rest of you will be on standby, we will move on when Neji gives us more info." Naruto said, the rest nodded, Naruto inclined his head towards the Hyuga and Neji silently took off to better scout the enemies.

Neji was able to get a better vantage point and saw that the Sound ninja's where indeed still resting before they finished there long journey, Neji scanned the area for Sasuke and saw his chakra signature within a barrel shaped coffin next to the largest of the group.

Neji immediately left to report this to the team captain, Neji silently appeared next to Naruto on a tree branch, "report," Naruto ordered, "the reports where correct, there are only four of them however there chakra is in comparison to high chunin or low jounin, they also all have a curse seal and I can assume that they know how to use it, Sasuke is with them inside of a barrel shaped coffin but he is alive." Reported Neji, Naruto thought this over for a moment, he wanted to kill the Sound ninja, O how he so wanted to kill them, but this was his first mission as a team leader and it would not be becoming of a team leader to charge head on alone and leave his team in the dust. Now if it was Orochimaru himself it would be a different matter, but these where glorified thugs and it would take much more than just there mere affiliation to the snake to send him over the edge.

Naruto nodded at Neji's report, "let's approach carful," Naruto said, the team then followed Naruto's lead and was able to avoid all of the traps thanks to Neji's Byakugan.

Naruto and his team then arrived in the high tree branches surrounding the clearing, Naruto saw the Sound Four and his blood began to boil but he was able to calm himself.

Naruto signaled for Lee, Tenten, and Shikamaru to come to him, "Shikamaru I want you to try to trap the big guy in your shadows while Tenten distracts them, Lee I want you to make a run for the barrel which Sasuke is in while Neji and I hide and ambush them if needed." Naruto ordered, the team nodded and Shikamaru and Tenten carefully got down to the forest floor while Lee waited for the distraction.

* * *

Jirobo was sitting on the ground; he was enjoying his rest and was tired from having to lug the Uchiha on his back for hours on end just because of his size. That was when Jirobo heard the surprised voice of his team caption, "Jirobo move!" Sakon shouted, Jirobo shot up quickly and jumped away before a shadow could ensnare him, Jirobo narrowed his eyes at the reiterating shadow, a second later Tayuya and Sakon were forced to back away as well when dozens of kunai came from the forests, "shit that almost him me!" Tayuya cursed, Kidomaru instinctively shot a web where the kunai came from and Jirobo was in a defensive stance looking for more shadows.

Sakon dodged an explosive tag when he made to guard the barrel containing there charge, Tayuya brought out her flute and dodged even more shuriken and kunai as she began to play her flute in an attempt to cast a wide genjutsu towards the forest where the annoying weapons where being thrown.

Suddenly a green blur appeared and made its way towards Sasuke however Kidomaru blocked the blur by crossing his arms over his chest and Lee was forced to jump back and land in front of the Sound Four in his strong fist stance.

Upon seeing Lee Tayuya paled, "what the actual fuck are those things alive!?" Tayuya screamed while she pointed towards Lee's caterpillar like eyebrows. "Tayuya keep your composer!" Sakon yelled, however Tayuya was still staring at Lee's eye bows, she began to sweet and grow paler and began to shake. "Game over man game over, what the fuck are we goanna do, what are we goanna do?!" Tayuya screamed as she imagined Lee's enormous eyebrows eating her.

The rest of the Sound Four resisted to face palm at their overly dramatic teammate, Lee had no idea what this rather unyouthful girl was talking about so he remained in his stance and awaited his teammates.

Shikamaru had moved from his position and was positioned behind Jirobo; he then quickly shot out a shadow towards him.

At the same time Tenten appeared next to Lee with katana in hand and taking a kenjutsu stance.

Sakon began to laugh, "Ha, these are just some brats, it seems like Orochimaru-sama did more damage than we thought and all the Leaf could muster is just some measly little brats." Sakon goaded.

"Or that Senju bitch is a worse Hokage than she lets on… figures that an old drunk would not be equipped for the job," Kidomaru insulted.

* * *

Naruto was in the trees watching and studying the Sound ninja below him, he was amused at first by the feminine looking Sound ninja as he attempted to goad his teammates, honestly is 'brat' everyone's go to insult? He was trying to keep a cool head about seeing the Sound ninja all throughout this encounter but Naruto was still young and it did not take much to send him into anger when it came to people who associated with the man who killed his grandfather figure insulting his friends and family. He had been looking for a reason to kill these scum all morning and now they just gave him one.

Naruto's anger spiked and his killing intent oppressed the air and made it hard to breath for the Sound Four, Naruto already wanted to kill them but he was trying to do this right…but now they insulted his godmother, his family and that just broke all of Naruto's restraints.

The Sound Four became nervous, this was the same presence they felt leaving the Leaf during the invasion, the same presence that was said to kill over a thousand Sound ninja like it was nothing.

Naruto then came crashing down between Tenten, Lee, and the Sound Ninja, he was standing strait up with his arms crossed, the ground beneath him had spider web cracks below his feet where he landed, his eyes showed barely repressed anger.

Naruto scanned his enemies, at first they appeared afraid but seeing how he was only a kid to them they visibly became more relaxed and confident. Naruto glanced at the big one and saw that he had not noticed Shikamaru had him trapped by his shadow, Naruto also saw the redheaded girl who had a smirk on her face which was mirrored by the other's in there team.

"Care to say that again?" Naruto's voice was cold and filled with hate; Kidomaru was oblivious to the foreboding in Naruto's voice and smirked at the blond brat trying to act tuff. "Yeah…I call your whore of a Hokage a dumb drunk bi-"Kidomaru was not able to complete his sentence as he was pulled towards the ground face first by an unknown force.

Naruto did not move, in his position the others on his team were not able to see his Rinnegan eyes which were filled with anger and hate. Only Neji could see the chakra being channeled into them but gave no comment, now was not the time to question things he was on a mission.

The other Sound ninja where shocked, Naruto did not even move, suddenly his eyes changed and Kidomaru face planted into the ground and looked to be struggling against an unseen force in an attempt to stand.

"Not only did you trespass into my village and take my teammate, you insulted someone close to me…now you four will die." Naruto said as his eyes flashed again and now all of the Sound Four was forced onto the ground with their faces in the dirt.

Shikamaru was able to stop his jutsu before he too was force to the ground due to the effects of his shadow possession jutsu.

Naruto was slowly picking up the gravitational forces around the Sound ninja, they were all struggling and grinding their teeth together in pain and frustration, there bones began to feel the pressure and Kidomaru accidently bit his tongue when he was pulled to the ground and so he was currently spitting out blood from his mouth. Naruto was enjoying their pain, he did not usually enjoy other's pain but this was different, when he looked at Sound ninja he did not see a person he saw only an extension of Orochimaru himself and he had sworn to erase the snake from this world. Did that make him a bad person; did that make him a justified avenger because Orochimaru could be considered evil from most peoples viewpoints? Naruto did not care, to him someone was considered evil if they hurt the people he cared about or connected with in a positive way can some be forgiven if they hurt his friends and loved ones? Maybe if they did not kill them, but Orochimaru had killed someone very close to him and his followers where fanatical so Naruto felt no remorse when killing Sound ninja.

Naruto was about to finish the Sound ninja when suddenly a volley of fast moving projectiles forced Naruto to lose focus and dodge out of the way.

Suddenly the gravity around the Sound Four let up and the Sound ninja sprang to their feet, and to their surprise a pale sickly looking man with white hair appeared, "Kimimaro what are you doing here?" Sakon asked the now identified Kimimaro turned his head slightly towards Sakon, "you will take Orochimaru-sama's next host, I shall hold them off." Kimimaro said in his monotone voice, Sakon recovered from his shock and went to pick up the barrel which contained Sasuke, "you three will stay with me and go straight to level two… this one is powerful." Ordered Kimimaro as he pointed at Naruto, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, Naruto signaled for his team to form up around him and suddenly his team appeared next to him.

Neji was in his family's taijutsu stance with Byakugan ablaze, Lee was in his own ready taijutsu stance with Tenten in her own kenjutsu ready stance. Shikamaru was in a ready stance and prepared to act as support.

Sakon strapped the barrel to his back and bolted into the trees, Naruto flared his chakra more as a signal to any Leaf ninja patrols that happened to pass nearby for back up rather than be intimidating but also had that affect as well.

"I will go after Sasuke, you keep these four off my back," Naruto ordered, his team nodded and without another word Naruto shot away into the trees, at the same moment Lee moved to intercept Kimimaro who attempted to attack Naruto as he left.

Tenten leapt at Tayuya and slashed her sword at her which she dodged; Neji used his gentle fist to swat away spider webs while Shikamaru forced Jirobo to back off with his shadows.

The Sound ninja knew that they could not fail, if they did than Orochimaru would kill them, the Sound ninja where in a desperate situation and as the saying goes, a desperate enemy is a dangerous enemy.

* * *

Naruto was following the faint feeling of Sasuke's chakra, Naruto having studied many maps of Land of Fire and beyond began to realize that he was nearing Rice Country. It didn't matter very much to Naruto; he would raze the country to the ground to save his friend.

Suddenly he felt Sasuke's chakra begin to slow down; Naruto became curious as to why and speed up his pace in response.

Naruto then saw the reason why Sasuke's chakra slowed down, Naruto saw that the Sound ninja was now running across flat planes with no trees for tree hoping.

Naruto smiled at his luck and channeled chakra into his legs all the while lowering his center of gravity slightly as to give him more air time. Naruto shot off towards the retreating form of Sakon, he was so fast that he was able to shoot past the Sound shinobi and land gracefully in front of him.

Sakon paled at the sight of him, he had learned the hard way not to piss this kid off, Sakon quickly sat his burden down on the ground and moved onto level two of his curse seal.

Naruto who was boring angry Rinnegan eyes into the man became disgusted as the vile chakra flowed into Sound ninja's system.

Sakon then revealed his twin brother Ukon who was also at level two of the curse seal, Naruto became even more disgusted as he witnessed another infected Sound ninja seemingly to melt out of the back of the first Sound ninja.

The euphoric high that the curse seal gives it's user made Sakon and Ukon lose their wariness of Naruto and both gave him a sadistic grin.

"You see this brat… this is the power of Orochimaru-sama…you cannot hope to defeat us now!" Taunted Ukon, "well said brother…we shall show this fool never to mess with the loyal servants of Orochimaru-sama." Replied Sakon, Naruto however was not impressed, all he saw was a mad dog that needed to be put down, anyone so loyal to that snake lost the privilege to be called human in Naruto's eyes, well anyone who hurts his friends and works for the pedophile snake that is.

"You disgust me little worm… you willingly give up your freedom and humanity to serve a wretch like Orochimaru… you are no man…you are nothing!" Naruto spat at the creature before him.

Sakon and Ukon grew angered expressions on their faces, "how dare you insult Orochimaru-sama!" They both said in unison, and just like their voices they both charged at Naruto perfectly synchronized with each other.

Naruto had no patience for worms so he merely forced the infected Sound ninja away with a blast of gravity.

The two brothers flew away at incredible speeds and flew over two hundred yards away from the angered Leaf shinobi.

Naruto rushed forward and found Sakon laying on the ground, Naruto channeled earth chakra into his foot, effectively making it much harder, Sakon looked up in horror as Naruto brought down his foot towards his head.

Ukon who was recovering from Naruto's last attack managed to get up on shaky legs, his heart stopped for a moment as he witnessed the blond Leaf Shinobi smash his back combat boot into the skull of his beloved twin brother, blood, bones, and brain matter erupted from the skull of Sakon like a fire cracker inside a watermelon.

"Y…you BASTARD…YOU KILLED MY BROTER!" Ukon screamed at his brother's killer, Naruto glared at him, "this is your punishment for working with that snake…you get to see your brother die before I kill you as well." Naruto spoke with cold malice that is only reserved for those who threaten his friends or are loyal to Orochimaru.

Ukon leaped at Naruto in a blind rage, Naruto did not move, his right foot still inside the red mush that used to be Sakon's face, Naruto raised his hand and pointed his left hand like a hand gun.

Naruto channeled lightning chakra into his hand and fire off a thin yet powerful stream of lighting at Ukon.

Ukon who was consumed by hate and anger did not see the attack coming; his mind only came back to the present when he felt a stabbing pain in his chest.

Ukon kneeled to the ground in pain; he coughed up copious amounts of blood, he looked down in horror when he saw a gaping hole that used to be his heart, Ukon tried to curse his enemy one last time but only a small pitiful gurgling sound came out before he face planted into the blood stained grass. Naruto smiled in satisfaction that there are now two less Sound ninja in the world.

Naruto began to move towards the barrel containing the wayward Uchiha, Naruto stopped when he felt a spike in the vile chakra that is characteristic to the curse seal.

Naruto saw the barrel begin to rumble and the lid of said barrel begin to shake like a lid to a boiling pot, purple smoke began to bubble out of the barrel and suddenly the barrel exploded in purple smoke and the wood creating the barrel was sent flying in all directions.

Naruto felt his blood boil in anger when he saw the now transformed Sasuke, with his grey skin, strange wings, blackened eyes and long hair.

Naruto was angered at Orochimaru, he knew that Sasuke was being controlled by the curse mark, that slaves brand was worse than the Hyuga's slave brand, where the Hyuga's incite loyalty through pain, the caged bird seal never gives you false pleasure, the cadged bird seal is at least a truthful slave brand.

But the curse mark is filled with lies and hypocrisy, it gives you false hope and false pleasure every time you use it, it's like having you own personal politician giving a speech in your mind.

"S…Sasuke," Naruto said carefully, Sasuke had a mad look in his eye, he started to chuckle sadistically, his mind had fully given into the powers of the curse seal. Sasuke did not even notice Naruto, the seal was whispering to Sasuke to go to Orochimaru-sama, to go to its master and gain the power he rightfully deserves.

Sasuke leapt away and made his way towards Rice Country, "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled after his friend, seeing Sasuke continue to run away Naruto made after the Uchiha.

Sasuke's' enhanced body thanks to the curse seal had made it to where Naruto could not catch up to him, that was until Sasuke's curse seal apparently decided to cloud Sasuke's memories of Naruto and decided that its master would be more pleased if Sasuke gained the Mangekyo Sharingan and take the chance to kill Naruto now before he becomes a problem for his master.

* * *

Sasuke had stopped atop the statue of Madara Uchiha while Naruto landed atop the statue of Hashirama Senju; Sasuke had a wide sadistic grin plastered on his face while Naruto looked on at his friend sadly, today he would either free his friend or kill him.

Sasuke began to chuckle darkly, "I've been waiting for you Naruto…now I can finally finish things between us…I can finally begin to gain the power I need for my revenge!" Sasuke yelled over the sound of the nearby waterfall, "Sasuke don't do this…I know that the curse mark is influencing you… what about your other goal… will you just let the Uchiha die with you?!" Naruto yelled, Sasuke could not hear him for the curse mark was whispering to him, _**"go before your brother and kill him…you need to gain the same eyes as Itachi….to do that you must kill your best friend…kill Naruto and avenge your clan,**__" _whispered the curse mark.

The pleasurable feeling the curse mark was giving him when Sasuke thought about this made it hard to argue, the curse mark used positive reinforcement as it's means to enslave, the curse seal knew what Orochimaru would want due to Orochimaru splitting a bit of his soul into the mark and due to that it acted as an extension of his will.

Sasuke gave Naruto a mad look, a look that seemed to mirror the faces of the men who gave Naruto his first and only scar.

Sasuke leaped at Naruto forcing Naruto to dodge and jump onto the water of the river that flows through the Valley of the End.

Sasuke swiftly adjusted course midflight thanks to his grotesque wing and landed next to Naruto, he sent a round house kick at the blond but Naruto blocked it by crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto then countered with his own kick towards Sasuke's stomach but the Uchiha jumped back.

Sasuke ran through hand signs and sent a large fireball at Naruto; Naruto quickly willed the water of the river to protect him from the fireball by making a wall of water.

Sasuke snarled at seeing steam rise instead of Naruto's burnt corpse, Sasuke then smirked when he remembered his other element, Sasuke then shot a bolt of lightning into the water in front of him which quickly speed its way towards Naruto.

Seeing the water in front of him becoming electrified, Naruto jumped up to avoid the attack; this was Sasuke's plan Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke called out, suddenly a dozen flames came towards the exposed blond.

Naruto was too high in the air for the water below him to protect him in time so Naruto did the next best thing and without any hand signs or calling the name of his jutsu, Naruto thrusted both his hands and a great gale of high powered winds met with the fireballs. The winds where so great that they reversed the trajectory of Sasuke's attack and even empowered the fireballs with the winds.

Sasuke was dodged away from the attack, Naruto landed behind the steam cloud that was created by the fireballs landing on the water. Naruto then sent a large wave towards Sasuke's position; Sasuke was forced to dodge again.

Naruto was able to keep Sasuke at bay with long ranged ninjutsu for a while, Naruto's plan was to tire Sasuke out with dodging his attacks that way he would not be awake for when Naruto removed Sasuke's curse seal.

Sasuke was getting tired of all the dodging and decided to end this; Sasuke formed a Chidori in his hand which had turned black with his curse seal enhancing his body.

Naruto saw Sasuke approaching him with great speeds; Sasuke was dodging every attack Naruto put forth.

"_Damn…if he hits me with that…" _Naruto trailed off when his vision became full of black lighting, Sasuke was grinning manically as he began to thrust his Chidori at Naruto, Sasuke could not see past the darkness crated by his black Chidori however his grin grew when he felt resentence against his hand and the feel of blood on his hand.

But to Sasuke's horror Naruto was standing there with his hair shadowing his eyes, Sasuke witnessed his enhanced Chidori be absorbed into Naruto. Sasuke and Naruto stood there in silence; the only sound was the nearby water fall and the faint dripping of blood from Naruto's hand.

The shock from having his enhanced Chidori be so easily countered was enough to stop the curse seals influence on Sasuke, just like in the chunin exams Sasuke suddenly felt a wave of guilt for what he tried to do.

Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand and allowed Sasuke to fall on his knees, Sasuke had silent tears roll down his face, he felt so guilty for what he'd done.

Naruto was saddened at seeing Sasuke's shoulders quake in sobs, Naruto reached out a hand for his wayward friend; Sasuke looked up at Naruto in shock.

"Why?" Sasuke asked in disbelief that Naruto would still reach out a helping hand after he tried to kill him for a second time.

Naruto gave the Uchiha a weak smile, "because to me Sasuke…you're like the brother I never had, you're one of my best friends even if we do treat each other like shit sometime that's just how guys are." Sasuke was stunned at this, he never thought that Naruto saw him as a brother but he began to think about all those times that they were on missions or trained together, when Naruto was the 'dobe,' he could barely stand him, he was annoying, brash, and stupid. But when Naruto dropped his mask and allowed the real him to show a bit Sasuke began to see Naruto differently, Naruto was just so unrelatable with his seemingly unmovable smile, almost inhuman how he was just so damn happy all the time. But when Naruto revealed a bit of his true self Sasuke was able to see his hidden pain but his determination was never a mask, his pain in his life had made him a stubborn rock but. Sasuke was able to bond with the real Naruto better than the annoying happy mask that he wore, Naruto and Sasuke's friendship was a brutal friendship and they always insulted each other when they could but hell don't we all do that to our best friends?

Naruto and Sasuke walked to in silence to the ground beside the lake, Sasuke sat down with his head in his hands while Naruto was standing and looking at his friend.

Sasuke was muttering "I'm sorry," over and over again, he felt sorry for hurting Sakura, he felt sorry for ignoring Kakashi, he felt sorry for leaving the Leaf, and he felt sorry for trying to kill his best friend.

"Sasuke…why did you leave," Naruto asked carefully, Sasuke did not respond for a while, he merely kept cradling himself and looking distantly at his feet. "I…Itachi…he made me… he made me watch as he killed all of them," Sasuke began, "h…he killed Sakura first…then Kakashi…then you, he made me watch over and over again…he said he could kill you all without any difficulty and there is nothing I can do about it." Sasuke said in a quiet voice, Naruto nodded in understanding, Itachi showed him how weak he was compared to him and Sasuke got scared and decided that the best course of action was to cut ties with the ones he cares about to make sure that they were safe, a noble gesture but a foolish one none the less.

Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Itachi is a liar," Naruto said simply, Sasuke looked up at Naruto, Naruto gave him a reassuring smile, "you are not weak Sasuke…you are one of the strongest people are age, you can form the Chidori and you have a fully matured Sharingan, you have so much potential." Naruto told his friend, Sasuke just hung his head in shame, "b…but I couldn't stop him…I just laid there as he killed you," Sasuke said in a small voice that sounded strange coming from Sasuke. Naruto shook his head, "you were in a genjutsu Sasukue, Itachi showed you what he wanted you to see, what you saw was just more lies that Itachi told you." Naruto said reassuringly, Sasuke nodded weakly at that.

A few moments of silence pass before Naruto realized that he had to remove the seal now before it grabbed hold of Sasuke's mind again, Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's neck over the curse seal.

Sensing a threat the curse seal twitched some influence at Sasuke; the Uchiha recoiled and began to backpedal on the ground trying to get away from Naruto. Naruto just began to slowly walk towards Sasuke, the curse seal activated to level one.

Sasuke hissed at Naruto like a possessed person, Sasuke used up a lot of chakra in their fight and the overuse of the curse seal had tired him out. Sasuke attempted to flee but felt a great pressure on him from some invisible force.

"Get back!" Sasuke yelled, his curse seal was feeling very threatened now, Sasuke kept trying move but he was forced down face up by a pressure that he could not see but very much feel.

Naruto was able to crouch down at the prone Uchiha, Rinnegan eyes burning with power, Sasuke tried to look at Naruto but the force was making it impossible to move an inch.

Sasuke felt Naruto's hand over his seal again; Naruto began to absorbed the chakra keeping the seal together, Naruto felt nauseous as the horrid chakra entered his system, Naruto felt like vomiting.

After a few second of absorbing the vial chakra that's exactly what he did but instead of his nonexistent breakfast when he vomited what came out was a purple smoky substance the purple smoke clouded over Naruto and began to dissipate by the breeze, after a few seconds Naruto felt the addictive enzymes that was the positive reinforcement of the slave brand enter his system as well, which the Kyuubi purged quickly.

Then later came the thing that made Naruto really vomit, Naruto felt the presence of the disgusting snake himself make its way inside his body, but the Kyuubi would have none of it, the Kyuubi sent it's chakra to burn away the piece of Orochimaru's soul that attempted to make a foothold inside of his host.

While this was going on Sasuke felt like a fog was being lifted from his mind, the whispering stopped and he could see and think more clearly, Sasuke begin to feel both angry and ashamed, he was angry that Orochimaru tried to make him his slave and ashamed that Orochimaru had almost gotten his wish.

Once the removal was complete Sasuke passed out from exhaustion, Naruto looked down at Sasuke carefully, when he saw that Sasuke was still alive he breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Suddenly a one eyed masked faced Leaf ninja appeared next to Naruto, Naruto did not even take his eyes off of his friend, "it wasn't his fault sensei the curse mark influenced his actions…but we don't need to worry about that anymore, I removed it." Naruto looked up at his sensei with a smile. Kakashi was curious about how Naruto was able to remove a seal that not even Jiraiya could remove but none the less eye smiled at his blond student, "I'm proud of you Naruto you lead your first successful mission." Kakashi said Naruto beamed at that before his face filled with worry, "what about the others? I flared my chakra to get attention before I left but was it enough?" Naruto asked, Kakashi nodded at him, "yes a team from the Sand was sent to aid you guys and your chakra flare attracted there attention, Shikamaru and Lee are pretty banged up and won't get out of the hospital for a week or so but other than that most everyone is fine." Kakashi explained, Naruto sighed again and his face visibly relaxed.

Kakashi then made to pick up Sasuke, "let's go home", Kakashi said Naruto nodded weakly at that and followed Kakashi back to the Leaf.

* * *

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata where all anxiously awaiting the results of the retrieval mission, they paled at the state of which the others returned with Shikamaru having what looked like bones impaling his legs and chest, and Lee looked like he broke a few of his own bones and obvious signs that he was forced to use the inner gates during his battle. Tenten was limping and had a black eye and a banged over her right arm, Neji was also limping and had bandages over his palms and chest. Had the Sand team not been there then the Leaf team would have suffered casualties.

All three had been waiting for the rest of the team AKA Naruto to return with Sasuke, they had been waiting for hours but still no sign of them, it had been over three hours after the rest of the team arrived back home.

Hinata had her Byakugan activated now as too see better if her crush would be returning, that's when she saw them, Naruto Uzumaki was walking along side Kakashi Hatake with a unconscious Sasuke Uchiha in his arms. "I…I s…see t…them," stuttered Hinata, Ino and Sakura perked up at this, "really is Sasuke-kun with them?" asked Ino, Hinata nodded and Ino gave out an exited shrike and jumped in place, Sakura was smiling as well, "what about Naruto?" she asked, Hinata smiled and nodded confirmation. Sakura visibly relaxed knowing that her team would be able to survive this ordeal.

Naruto made it to the gate and all three of the girls waiting called out his name, "Naruto!" they called out, Naruto smiled at them and waved, all three girls ran towards him, Ino wanting to know if Sasuke was okay, Sakura wanting to know if both of them where okay and Hinata wanting to know if he was okay.

But Naruto stopped the oncoming storm of questions by saying, "I need to report to granny right away and I have a feeling that this would be ranked as S-classed because all missions linked to Orochimaru are S-ranked so I can't talk about it." Naruto said as he held up a hand to stop there questions, Naruto then looked at his sensei and with a nod he disappeared In a storm Shunshin blatantly showing off his high affinity for water, wind, and lightning.

* * *

Naruto appeared in the Hokage's office a moment later, Tsunade didn't even bat an eye at Naruto's sudden appearance, "repot," she ordered simply.

Naruto then gave her a detailed account of the mission, he even told her about him attacking the Sound ninja after they had insulted her which she found amusing.

Naruto told her about his slaughter of the two Sound ninja in disturbing detail, he then went on to tell her about the other one sided battle that he had with Sasuke and how he left the village in a foolish yet noble attempt to keep Itachi from killing his friends and how the curse seal had corrupted his mind and what he felt from the curse seal during its removal all the way up to appearing at her office.

Tsunade rubbed her temple after the detailed report, anything to do with Orochimaru tended to give her headaches because that's what the snake was, a big annoying headache that could give you an aneurism and kill you if you weren't carful.

"Well good work Naruto, although I normally would not approve of running off and leaving your team, but in that situation there was little choice." Tsunade praise her godson.

Naruto nodded tiredly at her, "it's been a long day… can I go now?" Naruto asked, Tsunade nodded and let her godson rest.

Once Naruto left her office Tsunade looked up at the picture of Minato Namikaze and smiled, "you would be proud of him, I know I am." Tsunade said to the picture of her predecessor.

* * *

**(AN: And that is a chapter for you there, I wanted this chapter to be about Naruto's beginning shift in personality and some of you will say that he is still being a bit too emotional which is on purpose people. The reason for Naruto being emotional is due to his age and lack of experience when it comes to dealing with grief, I like a sadistic Naruto to an extent which is why I limit his sadism to only the people that hurt the ones close to him or the ones associated with Orochimaru.**

**If you are looking for a lot of cool fighting scenes then you've come to the wrong story, I am not very good at them but I will try to improve, I also don't really like writing pointless fighting scenes which is why I did not show the fight between the Sound ninja and the Leaf ninja because as you all know most people in the early years who have a close relation with Naruto have plot armor but that will be thrown out the window when the shippuden era rolls along.**

**I know some of you don't like this being so close to canon but this was a necessary evil to help solidify Sasuke and Naruto's relationship, speaking of those two as stated in this chapter Sasuke and Naruto's relationship will play out like a normal best friend relationship. They will tease, insult, and joke around with each other just how you would normally do with your best friend. **

**I hate how some people write a good guy Sasuke relationship with Naruto like, "hello Naruto what a wonderful day isn't it?" And Naruto would reply, "why yes it is my good Uchiha friend," no let me show you how it would happen if Sasuke acted like my best friend in real life and I would act if I was Naruto. **

"**What the hell you doing here you piece of shit?" Asked Sasuke, Naruto scoffed at him, "doing whatever the hell I want duck ass," Naruto grinned at his best friend.**

**Now you know how I will write that relationship and the interactions they will have between each other. **

**I also wanted to fill the hole I left by not allowing Neji to get his beliefs beaten out of him during the chunin exams, I thought it best to show at least a conversation however short it was to happen between Neji and Naruto because it would just be stupid if I made Neji suddenly act the way he does in shippuden for no reason at all.**

**The next chapter will be the last one for a while to follow close to canon for a while but not in the way you think it will. This chapter might feel rushed as well but that's just because of my excitement to get things rolling for my special arc I have planned to start in chapter eight. **

**Well that's I have for right now, live long and prosper you crazy people.) **


	7. IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

Important Authors Note

Hello everyone, I apologies for not posting for a while but there were some personal stuff going down in my life and also I have been thinking long and hard about the state of both of my stories (The Curse of the Rinnegan and The New Age of the Uzumaki.)

Well during that time of thinking I went back and read my story more times than I can count and I have asked for second opinions and read the reviews to see what is wrong and what is right with my story.

I can say that I am disappointed with myself, I was way too eager to get a chapter out and have a scene that I wanted to be done or a funny reference and my writing suffered as a whole for it.

I made a poor excuse for making Naruto the dobe of the class, I didn't even describe his attire for like three chapters which is just lazy, and I was too lazy to write a proper fighting scene or a training scene. I might not like to write or read training scenes that much but I acknowledge there usefulness to show that Naruto is actually working hard for his power and just not being boosted for no damn reason at all. And also the thing that has been bothering me the most is Naruto's personality has been inconsistent throughout the whole thing.

At first I had no idea where I wanted to go with this story and I had no idea where it would end up but now after some thought I now have a fully realized vision of where I want the story to go and also have a pairing in mind but that's for you to find out later.

I feel like this story can be a lot better so I'm taking it from the top and rewriting this whole damn thing, this new story will be called "The Curse of the Rinnegan (revamped version)," yes I know not really original but hey I like the title and it will basically be the same story but only better.

Some of you might think that I should continue the way things are going now but let's be honest this first version is pretty rough around the edges and that's the beauty of second chances, you get to take the good stuff and shove out the bad.

The new story might come up later this month but I still got some stuff to do in my life but it will be published, I might even start writing it later today who knows.

Well thank you all for reading this first version, the next one will be way better than this as I have grown more patient as a writer and now have an idea to where I am going and not just fumbling around in the dark with this story, hope you enjoy the revamped version!


	8. New Vesrsion is a go my good firends!

**New version is a go everyone!**

**I just launched the improved version of The Curse of the Rinnegan, so go and look for "The Curse of the Rinnegan (Remix)" **

**Yeah I decided to change it to remix because a reader by the name of BarelyProdigies suggested it via PM and I found it more enjoyable to say so you can thank him for the change.**

**Now go what are you waiting for? Go and read the new version, I'll warn you the grammar Nazis amongst you will probably hate it but hey I just want to write a cool story not be your English teacher. **

**Go, Go ,Go!**


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